[Venom 01.0] Venom & Vanilla

by Shannon Mayer

  Right at the moment, I was wishing we’d given the thieves an in.

  “Boost me!” Tad ran to the fence and I followed. I cupped my hands and he put his foot in. I boosted him up. A little too hard. He flew fifteen feet into the air, his body twisting as he fell on the other side of the fence.

  “You have no one to save you now, monster.” Achilles approached, swinging his sword in a lazy circle.

  “That’s what you think,” Yaya said from behind him. He spun as the arc of the frying pan flew straight and true. The cast iron smashed into Achilles’s head. He dropped to the ground in a crumpled heap.

  “Ooh-eee. Did you see his eyes roll back?” Yaya waved the pan at the soldier closest to her. The soldier seemed less than impressed as he pulled his sword arm back and held up his shield. As if going to do battle with a true foe.

  Yaya was going to get us both killed.

  But I was a Super Duper now. There had to be perks to being one of the monsters. Most were stronger and faster than humans, and if flinty-eyed Smithy was any indication, I should be able to outmaneuver these soldiers. Time to see if there was any truth in that. I ran toward Yaya, scooped her up with one arm, and bolted for the house before I questioned if what I was doing was even possible. All in the matter of barely two heartbeats.

  “The glass, Lena!” Yaya shouted, and I leapt. We soared over the broken glass of the table, and I landed in a crouch well inside the kitchen, Yaya still tucked tight under one arm like an oversized, mouthy football.

  “Mom, Dad. I gotta go. Don’t tell Roger I’m alive,” I yelled as I ran through the house, still clutching my yaya. “I want to surprise him.”

  Yaya cackled with laughter as we raced through the front door and out onto the steps. Yaya’s baby-blue 1981 Granada waited for us, Tad at the wheel.

  “Thanks, Yaya.” I kissed her on the cheek and put her down.

  “I’m coming with you, Lena Bean.” She swatted me on the bum, and I scooted down the steps ahead of her. She made her way down the steps, all but dancing. I slipped into the backseat, leaving her the front. She got in and tapped on the dash. “Go, boy. Before that meathead wakes up.”

  We drove away at a good clip, all three of us quiet for a moment before the silence was broken.

  All three of us tried to talk at once, a mash-up of questions and explanations. “Stop, both of you.” Yaya held up her hands.

  I closed my mouth. Yaya looked over the bench seat at me. “We need to figure out what Merlin did to you. Your brother is a naga. It’s the only form that was allowed. Merlin is dabbling in things he shouldn’t again.”

  I frowned. “You’re talking about him like he’s the Merlin and not just some wannabe who decided it was good name.”

  Yaya stared hard at me. “How do you know he isn’t? The world is a much bigger place than you and your brother were ever shown. You were kept blind to the supernatural, more so because of our family history than anything else. That is the only reason I allowed your mother to go crazy with the Firstamentalists. It was a way to keep you all safe from . . . things I thought you’d never need to know.”

  Tad turned onto the main highway, sped up, and merged into traffic while the Granada’s engine protested. “Yaya. You aren’t really a priestess of Zeus . . . are you?”

  “Of course I am. Why do you think I don’t give two horny figs if I went to church with your parents or not? I went to keep your mother happy, and I only took her at all because I needed to look like I’d renounced my vows. That’s all. I don’t actually think that crap they dole out about supernaturals being the devil is right. Or even reasonable. You know, some of my best friends back in the day were supernaturals.”

  I reached up and gripped the back of the bench seat, the pleather creaking under my fingers. “Yaya. Why did you make us go to church, then? Is it because of Uncle Owen?”

  “Because I was trying to keep you safe.” Her eyes filled with tears. “When I lost Owen, all I could think about was keeping the rest of you away from danger. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing any of you. One thing about the Firsts, they are safe.” She shook her head, her gray curls bouncing. “I tried, but your bloodlines are too strong. I told your mother your father would be trouble if she married him, but she didn’t listen to me. And now look. You two are both supernaturals just like—” Her teeth clicked shut and I shot a look at Tad. I had a feeling my eyes were probably as wide as his.

  “Just like who, Yaya?” Tad asked.

  “Never you mind. Don’t matter. I have to pick some things up from the Blue Box Store. The one on Forty-Ninth Avenue and Homer.” She leaned back in her seat, pulled her headphones from her pocket, and slipped them on. “Now let me sleep. I’ve had too much excitement and need to calm my heart before we get to Blue Box. The new one, not the crappy ones outside town.”

  The steady thump of techno music pulsed out of the earbuds, loud enough that I could easily hear it. Worse, the music crawled over my skin, the vibration as intense to my body as to my ears. I shivered and rubbed at my arms.

  “Cold?”

  “No, don’t you feel that?” I pointed at Yaya.

  Tad shook his head, frowning at me in the rearview mirror. “Feel what?”

  “The vibration of the bass, the music. It’s the same as when the Supe Squad came up behind us in the big rig. I could feel the pulse of the engine on my skin.”

  “Weird. You definitely aren’t a naga. I couldn’t have thrown you over the fence like you did to me. And I don’t feel vibrations on my skin—ever.”

  “What kind of Super Duper does?” I asked, my voice quiet even though I didn’t need to be. It wasn’t like Yaya was going to hear me.

  “I don’t know, sis. But whatever you are, there’s no doubt about it. You’ve stirred up a hornets’ nest just by existing.”

  “That’s a comforting thought,” I muttered.

  “I know, right?” He laughed softly, but the sound faded. “I am sorry, Lena. I didn’t want this to happen to you. None of it.”

  I put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t be sorry. Things happen for a reason, right? Maybe you and I are meant to be like this.” The words were the kind of platitudes I’d heard my whole life, but they’d always applied to other people. People who had bad things happen to them.

  But not me.

  The words didn’t feel as deep or comforting coming out of my mouth this time.

  “You really believe that?”

  I opened my mouth to say yes. Shut it, and tried again. “Maybe.”

  He laughed again. “Who do you think Yaya was comparing us to? She was going to say we were supernaturals just like . . . and then nothing.”

  I put my chin on the back of the bench seat and stared out the windshield. “We don’t know anyone who was a supernatural. At least no one Mom and Dad talked about.”

  “Grandma and Grandpa on Dad’s side. They were strange,” Tad said. I let out an exasperated sigh.

  “Grandpa was an illiterate mill worker, and Grandma never lived anywhere farther than three miles from where she was born. Weird, yes. Supes? No way.”

  “What about Aunt Betty, on Mom’s side?”

  I snorted. “The lady with the affliction of terrible hats? Bad taste is just bad taste, Tad. You’re stretching here.”

  “I want to know who she was going to compare us to. How else are we going to figure it out?”

  “How about asking her?” I leaned away from the front and stared at the material ceiling of the car. I reached up and touched a hole that was almost the same size as the hole in my sheet back at the hospital. From one death trap to another. The thoughts rolled around in my head and I couldn’t stop them. Two days ago, I’d been in the hospital dying just for existing.

  Now I was facing some sort of death sentence just for existing. My lot wasn’t improving as much as I’d hoped when I’d told Merlin to turn me.

  “We’re here, Yaya.” Tad reached over and touched her on the shoulder. “We’re here. Do you want to
wait in the car and I can get whatever you want, or do you want to come in?”

  “I want you to stop saying want,” she grumbled, then slipped off her earbuds. Had she heard everything we’d been talking about? Call me a cynic but I was betting yes. “I’m not telling you who you’re like now either. Not my place. Not my story.”

  Bingo.

  How in h-e-double-hockey-sticks had she heard us over that heavy bass, though?

  The three of us got out of the car and headed across the parking lot, weaving between cars to make the straightest route possible. The doors slid open. We stepped into the box store, the artificial lights buzzing high above us. My skin itched with the sound, and I wanted to scratch at every inch of me.

  I settled for clamping my hands under my arms and then strode forward with Yaya.

  “Yaya, what are we doing here exactly?”

  “I need to talk to someone. Well, you need to talk to him too.” She grabbed a stock boy and twisted him around to her. “Where’s the manager?”

  “Ah, I don’t know.” He tried to pry her off, his eyes flicking to Tad and me as if we would be on his side.

  “I’d tell her, she bites when she’s angry,” Tad said. I laughed, falling into old patterns. No matter how ridiculous, we backed each other up. Even if it was an outright lie.

  “You remember that time she bit the postman, barking at him like a dog and grabbing his ankle?” I smiled and shook my head as if remembering.

  Tad grinned. “He had something like thirty stitches on top of a tetanus shot.”

  Yaya gave a sharp nod. “And I’ll do it again if I need to. Go all the way up the leg to where the meat is soft and easy to bite off.”

  The stock boy paled. “Manager is in receiving, I think.”

  Yaya let go of him and patted his blue vest. “Good boy.” With that, she spun and strode farther into the store. Tad looked at me, shrugged, and fell into step behind her.

  People hustled through the store, pushing carts, pushing children, pushing items on the shelves. A woman shouldered between Tad and me and shoved me backward. She was maybe in her fifties with thick glasses and teeth that looked like she’d deliberately painted them black. That was the only explanation I could come up with for the dark shade several of them were.

  “Move,” she snapped, and I did, mostly because I didn’t want to send her flying through the air like I’d done to my brother earlier.

  The top of her head barely came to my chin and smelled heavily of body odor, with a faint undercurrent of moldy bread. I shuddered, wrinkled up my nose, and hurried to catch up to Tad and Yaya.

  She was filling him in on something. “So you see, your father knew you were okay all along. He was the one who paid for you to be turned, but you knew that, Alena didn’t. We were trying to keep her safe from persecution from the Firstamentalists. If they knew her brother was a Supe, she’d have an even harder time. Your mother never knew either, and that was the plan. But when Alena got sick, we didn’t want you two to be separated again. So we made sure Merlin would turn Alena into a naga too.”

  “Why a naga?” I asked as we cut through the plastic tub aisle.

  “The naga is a creature of Eastern mythology. We thought that was perhaps the best chance for you both.” Her words softened and she shook her head. “But it looks like Merlin has decided on other things. Things that are going to cause no end of trouble.”

  “Do you know what I am?” I asked, hoping she had the answer.

  “I think so. But I know someone who can tell for sure, just by looking at you. He can see through glamours and guises. Part of his old job.”

  We passed through the sporting goods and were working our way toward the car section, if the rotating tires above the aisle were any indication. A strong odor of rubber and oil crossed my nose, confirming our current location. In front of us was a tall man with big arms, a blue vest, and a perfect square-cut jaw I could see in profile as he followed at a distance behind a man who had obviously not ever had a mirror in his life. That was the only explanation for what I saw in front of me.

  The man in the lead wore bright-pink leopard short-shorts, cowboy boots, and a tank top that was cut off at the midriff. Over all that he wore a see-through lacy trench coat. And he clutched a giant lollipop between his teeth.

  The guy in the blue vest stalked him like a hunter after prey, with his camera phone as his weapon of choice. The scene was strange, but not surreal, as so many of my waking hours had been lately.

  “That is not for real,” Tad breathed.

  The man in the blue vest with the great profile spun and laughed. He held up a cell phone. “The Real People of Blue Box is an actual thing, my friend. I document whenever I can. I have millions of hits and thousands of followers. Makes me feel alive again!” He grinned and a lightbulb burst over our heads, shattering into a million sparkling little pieces.

  I hunched, Tad yelped, and Yaya stepped sideways to avoid the falling bits.

  The man in blue grinned and flexed his arms. “Sorry about that. Happens more often than I like even after all these years.”

  I stared at his blue vest, reading the tags on it. Best in customer service. Store Manager. Zeus. “Sweet baby Jesus,” I whispered.

  Zeus looked at me, his gaze flicking up and down my body several times as if seeing me for the first time. “Well, well. What have we here?”

  Yaya stepped between us. “That’s why we’re here, Zeus. We need to know what’s going on. You have information and we need it. After all these years and all the times I stood up for you, we deserve your help.”

  She hardly blocked his view of me, yet he craned his head to look around her. “Flora, why did you bring me a siren?”

  I slapped both hands to my chest. “I am not a whore.”

  He shook his head and one long finger. “No, not whore. Siren. Very different. And I think a rather special kind of siren.”

  Yaya fluffed up her hair, then tapped her forehead with one finger. “Zeus. Is this really something you want to discuss in the middle of the store?”

  He spread his hands wide. “This is my kingdom now. I rule here, I am the overseer of this world.”

  “Are you serious?” Tad spluttered. “This isn’t a world. It’s not a kingdom. It’s a box store.” He looked at me, and I lifted my hands in surrender. What did I know about dealing with someone who thought he was Zeus?

  “Don’t look at me. The last twenty-four hours feel like some sort of dream to me as it is. Why can’t Zeus be ruling a kingdom within the confines of a Blue Box Store? Just another weird twist to an already bizarro situation.”

  Zeus clapped his hands together, and a distinct rumble of thunder rolled through the store. “Flora, I have everything I need here. Food, drink, clothing, entertainment, and women. Lots of women.” He winked at Yaya and reached as if to caress her face.

  She swatted his hand down. “You like anything that will take you into their bed. Men. Women. Sheep.”

  He grunted. “Low blow, my love. I seem to recall you didn’t mind my indiscriminating gaze.”

  Tad and I turned in unison to Yaya, who blushed a furious red under our curious eyes. “I’d like to forget that chapter of my life, thank you very much. I’ve moved on to much greener pastures.”

  Zeus chuckled. “Well, at your age, forgetting the past . . . that’s entirely possible, isn’t it?”

  Yaya gasped, and I felt the dig as if it had been aimed at me. I shoved between them and put my finger into his sternum. “Listen here, hamster balls. You don’t talk to her like that. Nobody talks to my yaya like that. Not even some trumped-up douche who thinks he’s a long-dead god.”

  He grabbed my hand and rubbed my finger up and down in a far-too-suggestive manner. “Or what, darling? I think you and I could have a fine time together. Feisty, just like Flora with a longer set of legs. Yes, we could have some real fun.”

  Just like Roger, he thought he could pull the wool over my eyes with his deception. As if he could s
educe me, making me blind to how he treated my family and me.

  Just like Merlin, who’d lied to me, he thought he could seduce me with words and a future that didn’t really exist.

  Anger snapped through me, firing my blood like an open flame. I opened my mouth and my fangs dropped down. They hung out under my top lip and brushed along the lower edge of my bottom lip, beads of moisture dripping from them. A long low hiss slid out from deep in my throat as my eyes narrowed. Zeus stumbled back, slipped on a thin patch of oil, and fell onto his butt. He was up fast enough that I couldn’t be sure he even fell if not for the fact that he brushed the back of his pants off and his hands came away slick.

  “Drakaina,” he said. “That’s what she is, Flora. Whoever turned her did it with the intention that she would die.”

  My mouth dropped open wider, and with the dissipating anger, my fangs retracted, folding back as nicely as you please. “What?”

  I seemed to be saying that a lot. What. Why. Where. I didn’t like not knowing.

  Zeus snorted and the lights above us flickered. “Drakaina. Serpent. Siren. Shape-shifter. Monster. That is what you are, granddaughter of Flora, long-ago priestess of mine.”

  “I don’t want to be a monster,” I whispered, forgetting I’d been angry with him only moments before.

  He shrugged. “Not my issue, snake. You’re a true monster, that’s how it is. Not just any old supernatural, but a monster through and through. As bad as they come. Eating people, destroying cities, ruining lives: that is your calling card now.”

  His words were too much, the final straw piled onto my shoulders. I spun and bolted back the way we’d come, running for the front entrance. Tad shouted, begging me to stop. I couldn’t, though. All I could think was that I wasn’t going to be able to fit in at all. That people would know me for what I was as easily as Zeus did.

  I choked on a laugh, the edge of it more than a little hysterical.

  I was a monster. A snake woman who could seduce people and apparently scared even Zeus.

  The lady who’d blocked us as we came in glared at me. “Out of my way, girl. I’m a-shopping, you know.”