Gift of the Serpent

by Wylder Willis

  Dakota (purple mask) was 16 and stood almost four inches taller than Oliver. He had a faint almost ghostly tan with a non-muscular build. He had sea green eyes and a knowing smile. Dakota had clean-cut, dark blonde hair that was an inch shy of his chin. He wore a black long sleeved shirt, black cargo pants, and a pair of black tennis shoes. He donned a silver ring with an engraved design of a gear.

  Mikey (green mask) was the youngest at only 15 and stood about 5’6” tall. He had a Hawaiian surfer tan and a skateboarder’s build. He had light brown eyes and a childish grin. Mikey had wild blonde hair, that occasionally had black highlights. Around his neck he wore a silver chain necklace. He wore a black jersey with dark red streaks, black gym pants, and slightly used black basketball shoes.

  Oliver stopped the group and looked in the direction of Nikita’s hideout, sure that he had seen movement behind the shade of one of the windows, which was odd since it was an abandoned building and didn’t have electricity. “Earth to Oliver. We still have a patrol to finish or did you forget?” barked Horus after a few minutes.

  “Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Go on without me, I’ll catch up. I just want to check something real quick.” answered Oliver. With that he began making his way to Nikita’s hideout, unaware of the danger that slept inside. Oliver reached the door, within moments and he began to slowly turn the doorknob.

  Once Oliver was in he made his way to one of the far rooms. He passed the room that Nikita was sleeping in on his way to the far room. Unbeknown to him was a homemade motion sensor, using a serpentine magic spell as a power source, which went across the hall just beyond Nikita’s room.

  Oliver made it to the far room and opened the door carefully. What he saw in there surprised and puzzled him. In the middle of the room was a small sharpening wheel with a stool seated in front of it. Above the stool, near the ceiling, floated an orb of low blue light. On the stool was a dull, crescent-shaped dagger, with a green substance on it. A dozen daggers of varying sizes and designs lined one of the walls.

  On the far wall were a handful of throwing daggers embedded in the wall. One of the daggers had hit a picture that had been pinned to the wall. The picture was of an unknown adult male, smiling. The dagger was embedded in his face right between the eyes. Oliver walked up to the stool and took the dagger in hand and investigated the green substance. He noticed the tip had been sharpened some. He gently ran a finger over the tip, yet cut himself. “Oww,” he said under his breath.

  Chapter 4

  Introductions

  Nikita woke up to her motion sensor alarm, which was an upgraded cell phone that she kept on vibrate. Her low, blue tinted, orb of light still floated in the middle of the room. She shimmered into her work clothes and got out of bed to investigate. She opened her door silently and peeked her head out as she checked the hallway. She noticed that the far room door was open. She swiftly began towards the far room. When she reached the door she heard a faint, “Oww.” She entered the doorway and saw the intruder was a masked, teenage boy with two katanas housed in sheaths crossing his back.

  “You should be careful with that. You never know what could be on that dagger,” Nikita said. The boy dropped the dagger as he jumped. He turned towards her and started, “Sorry I didn’t know anyone—”

  “Save it. Did you cut yourself?”Nikita said bluntly when she saw blood on his hand.

  The boy quickly hid his hand behind his back as he said, “Yeah, but It’s nothing. Just a prick.”

  “Really? ‘Cause that’s a venom laced dagger,” said Nikita casually, “but if you know how to handle a venom laced cut then I’ll show you to the door.”

  “Venom laced? What idiot would leave a venom laced dagger lying around!” panicked Oliver. Nikita cleared her throat and motioned for him to follow her. Oliver opened his mouth to apologize, but Nikita was already walking down the hall to a different room. He followed her—after he picked up the venom dagger—to the sink (though it was more like a medical bay).

  A small orb floated in the room and turned on as they entered, unlike the orbs in the hallway that were always on. Nikita took the dagger from Oliver and began to ready for venom nullification. Nikita angled a needle with a liquid version of dry ice at Oliver’s hand. “Oh, before I do this I need to know what terrifies you,” asked Nikita.

  “Uh… snakes. Why?” answered Oliver. Before he could even react Nikita plunged the needle into the flesh near the cut and emptied the liquid, dry ice. “Yeow! Damn that’s cold,” Oliver cried out in surprise. Nikita took the needle out and tossed it in the sink, as Oliver gazed at her in surprise, with his mouth slightly ajar. Nikita looked at him and said in a matter of fact tone, “It’s easier if you are focused on something else. Now close your mouth.” Oliver did so, since it sounded more like an order than a suggestion.

  “You don’t seem very surprised by my intrusion, miss. Why is that?” he asked.

  “Don’t call me ‘miss’, masked boy. The name’s Nikita. Nikita Blade. And I’m not surprised because you tripped my silent alarm.” she answered. Nikita handed him a small chalice with a snake scaled copper exterior, a glossy black interior, and had what looked like a bloody handprint on the exterior. Within the chalice was komodo dragon blood. Nikita knew that komodo blood was great for many injuries, as it has medicinal bacteria in it, but this blood went further as it also sped up the healing, thanks to a spell from Nikita

  “What is it?” Oliver asked as Nikita walked to the opposite wall.

  Nikita glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes as she reached for the roll of bandages. “It’s… prune juice. It will help with the venom. Now drink,” Nikita said as she returned with the bandages.

  Oliver looked at the odd liquid and then at Nikita before downing the liquid, which tasted nothing like prune juice. Oliver looked her up and down with a puzzled look as she started wrapping a bandage over the cut.

  “You keep staring and a venom-laced blade will be the least of your concern,” Nikita said as she flashed her fangs at him. He jerked back as a flash of fear entered his eyes.

  “Y-you’re a vampire?” he stuttered. Nikita nodded as she tied off the bandage.

  “No a reptile. Now leave that on for two or three days and if it starts getting puss around it, then you might want to cut your hand off.” instructed Nikita as she ushered Oliver out the door.

  “What? Cut it off?” Oliver cried out as he was shoved out the door.

  “Kidding. Maybe.” She teased as she shut the door. She turned and headed back to bed as she shimmered and was once again in her nightgown. As she turned around she could hear the boy say from the other side of the door, “Nice meeting you Nikita. I’m Oliver. Maybe we will meet again.” Before long Nikita was fast asleep as she lay splayed out on her bed.

  Oliver caught up with the other boys. “Finally our leader catches up. Did you get lost on the way?” teased Horus.

  “Back off Horus.” snapped Oliver.

  “What did you see back there?” asked Dakota.

  “It was nothing, Dakota. Just a cat with a big shadow. Let’s get going or we’ll be late” answered Oliver. With that Oliver took off towards one of the abandoned hotels near the CNN building. The others followed him across the rooftop and to home. Once they were home they were greeted by their sensei, Master Kappa—a kind, elderly man with a cane, clothed in an old japanese, dark red kimono. He had kind, yet knowing eyes.

  Each of the four boys greeted their master, and then headed to their personal rooms and readied themselves for sleep.

  Chapter 5

  Medical Magic

  The next morning Nikita woke up with a start, her eyes flashing open. She realized something was tickling her left ear, so she looked over to her left and was face to face with a year-old, western diamondback rattlesnake. Nikita smiled as she greeted it in the language of the reptiles, “Morning Somar-ooka. How’s the weather?” The snake answered in growls and hisses. As Nikita continued to chat with Somar-ooka, she got ready for the day. She
shimmered into a black, shredded-designed t-shirt, a pair of jean shorts, and a pair of red-spiked, black tenni shoes. Then she had some scrambled eggs with hashbrowns and apple juice on the side. Once done getting ready for the day she gave Somar-ooka a live mouse for breakfast, which she had pulled out of a cage on one of the counters, then began towards her armory, where she would spend half the day either sharpening her daggers or practicing with them.

  Meanwhile Oliver was training with Master Kappa as the other boys watched. Oliver was attempting to unbalance Kappa by lifting him off the ground. “To get your opponent to drop his guard you do whatever you need to do, like so” said Kappa before he pinched Oliver on the neck. Oliver let go and backed away as he began to rub the sore spot on his neck. He just looked at his sensei with a look that said that he couldn't believe Kappa had used a pressure point on him.

  The three boys that had watched had begun laughing once sensei had pinched Oliver, but had now gone off and begun training without Oliver. Horus was currently in the process of taking down Dakota and Mikey.

  Oliver yelled, “Hey, Mikey, let’s spar together.” Mikey looked in Oliver’s direction and lowered his weapons as he agreed. At that moment, Dakota ducked Horus’s ninja claws, which hit Mikey in his face and a bit on the neck. Sceesh! Mikey fell backwards as he dropped his curved blades, known as kamas. Thud!

  The sparring halted as Oliver and the others rushed to Mikey to see if he was okay—but Mikey seemed to be seriously injured, and fading out of consciousness. Dakota checked Mikey’s vitals, but it was bad news, as they watched the blood gushing from his face. “We need help.” said Oliver.

  “From whom? A hospital would get social services and separate us. Plus, I doubt our friend, Angel, knows what to do,”snapped Horus.

  Angel was a young lady that befriended the boys; she helped them out for a good meal every so often. She sometimes brought clothes from a local Goodwill store so they could remain under the radar. Sadly she didn’t know anything medical wise and she was uncomfortable with the sight of blood.

  “I know someone who could help. I’ll get her,” said Oliver before he ran off.

  Oliver arrived at Nikita’s hideout without being seen within minutes. He rushed in and called out, “Nikita! I need your help!”

  Nikita poked her head out from the armory with a needle dagger clutched in her mouth. Nikita motioned for him to wait a second, then she positioned the dagger so the tiny hilt was between her teeth and pointing at him. Then she launched it at a target behind Oliver’s right shoulder. Oliver looked at where the dagger had embedded itself in the wall, then to Nikita. “What are you doing here?” asked Nikita.

  “My brother needs your help. He’s unresponsive and bleeding badly,” said Oliver.

  “Lead the way,”Nikita responded as she grabbed a small, animal skin canteen of the komodo blood she had used last night to heal Oliver. A masked Oliver and Nikita ran out the door as she shimmered into her work clothes, drawing an interested look from Oliver. He would have to learn more about this unusual girl, but first things first. Oliver led her into the apartment and to Mikey.

  Minutes later Nikita was skidding to a stop when she saw three other teenage boys and an elderly man. “Come on, Mikey needs help,” ushered Oliver. Nikita hurried to kneel next to Mikey, dropping the tin next to her left leg. “You in purple, what’s the patient’s status?” asked Nikita as she checked the patient’s vitals. I always wanted to ask that!

  “My name is Dakota. And he’s dropping in and out of consciousness. Vitals are in a constant state of flux. If he doesn’t stabilize soon he will go into a coma or bleed to death. I think his carotid artery might have been nicked,” Dakota answered quickly.

  Nikita nodded her agreement, then motioned for everyone to leave except Oliver. “Oliver, you stay. I may need help stabilizing him.” Oliver glanced at his two (conscious brothers) and sensei as they left with confused looks on their faces.

  Once they were out of earshot, Oliver kneeled down next to Nikita. “Is Mikey okay?”

  Nikita smiled a mischievous smile as she said, “Yea. I just need to do a spell and use this komodo, antimicrobial blood to heal him.”

  Oliver glared at her, through the eyes of his mask, as he replied, “Then why did you ask them to leave and make it seem like we would be doing surgery? Wait… isn’t that the stuff you told me to drink?”

  “Yeah, and I’m not suppose to let mammals see me use my magic except in dire circumstances. Plus, I think the other two boys were checking me out,” she answered.

  “And why did you tell me to stay?”

  “I wanted some entertainment. Which I got from your response as well as your brothers’ reactions.”

  Oliver just glared at her after he slapped himself in the face. “Just do the spell,” he said under his breath.

  “Sinar-moku healno marooka. Reptila bar-moona.” Nikita said as she whimsically waved her hands over Mikey’s heart. She quickly scooped up the canteen of the komodo blood with her left hand and gently drizzled some of it into Mikey’s mouth, as she pinched his nose to force him to swallow. Nikita breathed deeply as she laid her hand on his chest and she sent a pulse of magic into his chest. She got up on her feet and turned to Oliver. “Now all we can do is wait. He should come ‘round in a few minutes,” reported Nikita.

  Oliver thanked Nikita before she collapsed. He rushed to Nikita’s side crying out her name. “I’m fine, the healing just took a lot out of me,” said Nikita gently.

  “You should rest. I’ll help you to the couch,” Oliver said with a hint of worry. She nodded her consent. Oliver draped one of Nikita’s arms over his shoulder and laid her on one of the two couches that were in the room. He then went back for Mikey and carried him to the other couch before returning to Nikita where he kneeled by her side and remained until she had recovered.

  Chapter 6

  Family Introductions

  Minutes later Nikita was back on her feet and checking on Mikey’s status when his eyes fluttered open. Nikita saw his eyes open and called to Oliver. He rushed over, as Nikita backed away from Mikey and gave his little brother a hug. Horus and Dakota walked in to see that Mikey was awake.

  “Don’t ever scare us like that again little brother,” Oliver said as he looked Mikey in the eyes with a searching gaze.

  “I promise. It wasn’t fun for me either,” answered Mikey. Horus and Dakota each hugged Mikey.

  “I thought I saw an angel when I woke up. Who was that?” Mikey asked before he caught sight of Nikita. The boys parted when they saw that Mikey had spotted Nikita.

  Mikey asked, “Who are you?”

  Nikita introduced herself. Oliver said, “She’s a friend of mine. She’s the one that healed you.”

  “I should go. I need to start my daily training. Besides this is a family scene,” Nikita said to Oliver as she grabbed her canteen.

  He nodded and told her he’d walk her home. The boys’ sensei thanked Nikita as he passed them on the way to see Mikey. Once Oliver and Nikita reached her hideout Nikita turned to Oliver and said to him, “Thank you for walking me home. Maybe we can hang out sometime under less dire circumstances.”

  With that she stood up on her tippy-toes and kissed Oliver on the cheek. The edge of his mask rubbed against her nose. Then she went back to standing fully on her feet before she blushed and headed towards the door. Oliver blushed as he smiled. He stood like that until Nikita had fully entered her hideout and closed the door behind her. He turned and left still blushing.

  Nikita closed the door behind her. Her blush continued as she leaned against the door and the past few moments finally caught up to her. “Oh my Goddess,” she said to herself as replayed them in her mind.

  When Oliver got back home, he was still blushing. As he made his way to his room. Horus noticed that Oliver seemed flushed. Horus said to him, “Hey Ollie! Bro, what’s with the blush? No wait, let me guess. Nikita invited you to spar with her and you got beat within a minute.” Oliver glared at
him as he shook his head in answer. “Then what happened?” Horus prodded.

  Oliver answered, “She...she kissed me. But it was nothing.”

  “She kissed you? On the lips?” Horus prodded further.

  “Yes, she kissed me. It was on the cheek.” Oliver answered a bit annoyed.

  “Bro, nice job. She’s a keeper,” Horus teased. Oliver shoved him in the face teasingly as he brushed past and blushed even more. “It’s not like that man. Nikita and I are just friends, okay? We just met the other night.” Oliver corrected, “Now, how about we spar for a bit?”

  “You’re on. First one down for a count of ten loses,” challenged Horus. Oliver drew his katanas as Horus drew his sias.

  Chapter 7

  Long Fang and the Dagger Clan

  What Oliver and his brothers didn’t know was that Nikita and Oliver were followed to her hideout by a squad of Dagger clan members. Among the Dagger clan soldiers was their leader, Long Fang, and she now had her sights set on Nikita. She and her soldiers were infiltrating Nikita’s hideout as Nikita was leaning against a hallway door.

  Long Fang was a strong, young female. She wore heavy, metal and leather armor that covered her entire body. Her face was covered by a leather mask with gaps over the mouth and openings for the eyes to see out. She had retractable twin blades set in her armor on her forearms. To top it off, Long Fang was a master ninja, like Kappa.