7. Piper

Chapter seven

Piper

Before

" P iper, I swear to fucking God himself -" Cain's yelling jerked me into consciousness, and I coughed as I rolled over, clenching my stomach as pain rippled through me. My door slammed open somewhere nearby, and I groaned when light hit my sensitive eyes, shivering as I pulled my comforter tighter around myself.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he asked, but I swear his voice was tinged with genuine concern. I had been his annoying shadow for months now, and the relationship was still… tenuous at best.

"So… fucking cold… " I mumbled, coughing again, my throat feeling like I swallowed glass. He sighed and sat down on the bed next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. Heat poured into me, dousing the chill that had settled into the marrow of my bones. "Did you let another snake in here?" he asked sharply.

"No, I told you, it's the tug," I mumbled, my limbs turning to jelly as my shivers finally receded.

Cain sighed heavily, and his hand gripped my shoulder, rolling me over to face him. "Piper, I've told you before, I don't understand this witchy shit you're talking about. I don't care about a ‘tug' or the ‘pull' or whatever. What I care about is the fucking rattlesnake I found in the bathroom sink." I blinked my eyes open, frowning as his face shifted, looking like someone else entirely for a moment.

Death… my death was staring at me…

"Piper, come back," he snapped, shaking me gently. "Piper, did the snake bite you? What the fuck is going on?" he demanded. I shrugged, burrowing under my blanket.

"I'm just… so cold," I mumbled, my stomach twisting with pain. Hunger? Maybe I was hungry. It had been a while since I'd caught any food.

Wait, what?

"Fuck me, of course you'd get sick right now," Cain sighed. "Okay, listen, I called animal control for the snake again. Do not go into the main bathroom. If you have to piss, fucking hold it." He grimaced. "I'll check on you in a bit. Just sleep, okay?" I nodded, closing my eyes, feeling despair welling up in my chest. Was it my despair? I felt so alone but Cain was right here. It wasn't mine then, it was someone else's. Someone who needed the tug.

Cain disappeared, the door shutting behind him, and I began to shiver once more as I took hold of the tether in my chest and yanked? My head was spinning, and I fell asleep shivering again.

I woke later to Cain sitting beside me on the bed, typing aggressively on his laptop. "Snake's gone," he muttered, and I shifted over, groaning as my body protested the movement. Someone had beaten me to holy hell. I just couldn't remember when or who. Cain watched me, frowning, and his hand landed on my shoulder again, warming me up and soothing some of the pain. "Should I take you to the hospital?" he asked shortly, and I shook my head.

"No. We have to be here to let him in," I mumbled, coughing violently.

"Let who in?" Cain asked, setting his laptop down. I couldn't answer him, since I was busy choking on something caught in my throat. I think I passed out from the lack of oxygen. When I came to, Cain was on his feet, swearing and throwing laundry on the floor. The tug was stronger. He'd be here soon, I was sure of it. I sat up slowly, my body stiff and protesting after days in bed.

"Piper, stay put, there's a fucking snake in here!" Cain snapped at me, searching the floor wildly. I climbed out of the bed, catching a flash of red slip under the crack in the door. My legs buckled, and I fell to my knees, catching myself on the bed.

"What did I fucking say?" Cain snarled as I pulled myself up.

He was here, he was close. I stumbled toward the door, bracing myself on the wall as I struggled with the doorknob. Cain was still shouting at me as I made it out into the hall, following the little red-bellied snake to the stairs. Our new place was odd. I'd stumbled upon it by accident, and while Cain had no use for the shop set up on the main floor, he couldn't turn down a price that good, especially when it got us out of that tiny apartment.

I missed a step and tumbled down the stairs, rolling onto the landing in our kitchen. I saw the snake disappearing down to the main floor, and I crawled after it, hearing Cain's thundering footsteps behind me. The taste of blood filled my mouth as I licked my lip, crawling down the stairs slower to avoid falling again. The snake led me toward the front door, and I pulled myself to my feet, feeling stronger the closer I got.

"Piper, I am not chasing your feverish ass down the street at 3 a.m.," Cain snapped as I unlocked the door and swung it open. The little snake slithered out, curling up in the palm of the young man collapsed on our front steps.

"Jesus, what the fuck is this now?" Cain groaned, stepping around me to check him out. My chest felt lighter than it had in weeks, completely at odds with the scene in front of me. Cain was checking the guy's pulse when he hissed weakly at him, burrowing deeper in the oversized hoodie he was wearing. The little red-bellied snake had disappeared up his sleeve, probably trying to stay warm.

"Bring him inside. He needs to get warmed up," I told Cain, who glared at me, but did as I instructed for once. It wasn't much effort to lift him and carry him down to the basement, where we had an old leather couch and a beat up coffee table. Cain set him down carefully, and he immediately curled up into a ball on the couch, shielding his face from view.

"Hey, what happened?" Cain asked him, sitting down on top of the coffee table. "What were you doing out there?" He reached out a hand, resting it gently on his shoulder, and he flinched away from his touch. "I'm not going to hurt you, but I need answers," Cain chided, glancing up at me. I walked over until I was standing between them and sank down until my face was level with the guy on the couch.

"You felt the tug, didn't you?" I whispered, and he stirred slightly, shifting to look up. His hair might've been blond at one point, but it was so dirty and matted with blood and grime that it was hard to tell. A large, untended gash cut across his forehead and his face was a motley of bruises. I didn't care about those, though. I couldn't stop staring into his eyes. Large, yellow-green eyes with thin black slits for pupils, just like a snake. I lost myself in them, burying him deep in my soul where he'd always belonged - where he'd always been. "Austin?" I murmured.

He made a low, keening sound, pain washing over his face. I pushed the hood off his head, letting Cain see some of the damage he'd suffered. "Did you get jumped?" he asked softly, and Austin dropped his gaze to the floor, shivering as he nodded slowly.

It took Cain and me another two hours to convince Austin to have a shower and wash off the grime so we could assess the damage. The entire time, I was murmuring encouragement, explaining that he was safe with us. He wasn't much of a talker. In fact, I wasn't sure he could talk. His throat looked badly bruised under all the grime. The poor guy was emaciated, and it turned out his hoodie was full of snakes. Cain was quietly fuming as he stuck the old clothes in one of our spare rooms and shut the door quickly, trapping the snakes in there for now.

I waited outside the bathroom while Cain hunted around the kitchen for some food to give him. I was beginning to doze against the door when I heard a dull thud from behind me. Throwing open the door, I found Austin half-out of the shower, clutching the towel rod as his legs shook, refusing to hold him up. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist, helping him out of the bathroom and into my room, which was closest.

"You're okay now, it's okay," I told him, propping him up on the bed. Austin was painfully thin, and his whole body shook with a chill. I rifled through my small amount of clothes, finding a few things that would fit him. I got him dressed in a pair of sweats and another hoodie, and helped him climb under the covers of my bed, where he curled up immediately, his eyes squeezing shut.

"I found some crackers. We need to go shopping," Cain grumbled, stomping into the room. He paused, looking at the small lump in my bed, and arched an eyebrow at me. He set the crackers and a glass of water on the bedside table, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "Alright, you keep an eye on him for now. Yell if he tries to kill you or anything," he muttered, walking back out. I rolled my eyes and laid down next to Austin, exhausted from all the excitement. Austin wouldn't kill me. I knew that deep in my bones.

I jolted awake in confusion when I felt hands on my chest sometime early in the morning. My eyes opened to find Austin hovering over me, pushing me down into the bed. "Morning babe," I smiled. He often crawled into my bed during the night. Wait… did he do that? I blinked, and the face hovering over me lost some of its familiarity. Where were his piercings? That cocky smirk he'd learned that turned me on? Austin's face was pinched with hunger, and he flashed small, needle-thin fangs at me, bringing his face close to mine. "Hey… it's okay, you're safe here," I offered, trying to sit up. He shifted in a flash, pinning me down as he straddled me on the bed. He hissed at me, one of his hands coming up to trace over my face.

"I don't understand you," I told him gently, and his fingers grazed over my lips. I knew it wasn't my Austin I was talking to right now, but my body responded to him all the same, and he cocked his head to the side, frowning at me.

"Wh… Who… you…" he rasped, barely intelligible.

"I'm Piper, and the other guy is Cain," I told him, my fingers tracing up his thigh. "We're like you. You were called to us, right?" I asked. "That was me. That was the tug." I touched his chest, right over his heart, and he made a sad, keening sound. "You're safe here. This can be your home now." Cain wasn't going to be happy about that, but he'd get over it. He needed someone else to take care of. He was getting bored.

Austin leaned over, bringing his face close to mine. I inhaled sharply as his tongue darted out, tracing up the side of my neck. "H… home…" Austin hissed, and I shivered when his teeth grazed my skin. I knew what it felt like when those fangs sank into me, even though they had yet to do so. He settled back down, curled up around me and half on top of me, falling back to sleep. It felt like a missing piece of my heart had slotted itself back into place.