"Lord, I need your help in defeating the beast. She is loved by the crowds who know no better." He lifted the mesh from the pool slowly and reached inside. The movement of his hand caused the warning rattles to sound, but it didn't stop him from continuing. God was on his side and would protect him from the serpents.
"Show me a sign, Lord." The thick strong body of the rattler coiled around his right arm leaving itself enough room to still be able to sound his death rattle. Instead of instilling fear, he reached for another one and it too wrapped around his other arm. He lifted both agitated snakes into the air and looked at the viper's eyes. They were unblinking as both heads were poised for a strike. Their handler had given them enough room to do that if that was their choice.
His life had been spent on trying to serve the god he believed existed. A god that struck down those who went against his word by using holy soldiers carefully chosen to do his bidding, this god had no compassion for those who lived their lives outside of the norm. The faithful servant holding the snakes had spun off from his church and formed his own religion along with the type of Supreme Being he followed. There was no room for decent.
He watched in amazement as a drop of venom dripped from the larger one's mouth but he didn't strike. "I shall do your bidding, Lord God." His arm still tingled where the venom had come to rest as he put his tests of faith back in their lair. The time was at hand.
************************************************************************
"Why does your hair always smell so good?"
"I saw the brand of shampoo you wear on your right sleeve and decided to try it out," answered Emily. She was curled up on the bed with Parker pressed against her running her fingers through the blonde hair.
"Keep this up and I may have to spank you."
"As lovely as that thought might be, Logan's due back any minute and I want to be dressed when he arrives."
"Where's your sense of adventure, baby? Wouldn't Mother Parish love to read about her little girl's wild and sexy ways?"
"Keep it up and my mother will have a field day with you. She already thinks you're a bad influence on me."
"I can't be that bad since I can't talk you out of these shorts." Emily turned around at the tease and ran her finger along Parker's lips.
"Would you come with me to meet my mother?" The question sounded almost tentative to Parker who put two fingers under Emily's chin and lifted her head.
"I'd go anywhere with you, baby, never fear that."
The knock on the door was what ended the kiss they were sharing. Parker was starting to think it was some conspiracy to keep her from touching Emily. She looked at the front door of the apartment with the same sentiment she held for the phone next to Emily's bed.
"Logan, how goes the manhunt?" asked Parker.
"Interesting."
"I'd offer you a place to sit but Emily hasn't gone furniture shopping yet. How about the three of us go and grab an early dinner? When you're finished telling me about the psycho chasing after me, I'll give you some tennis pointers."
They took Logan's police sedan to a small family owned Italian restaurant the detective was partial to before the talk of stalkers began. The results the FBI crime lab had come up with were still baffling not only them but the New York police staff as well. The Fed boys had run an analysis on the ink that proved to shed some more light on the perpetrator, but exactly what the spotlight showed was unknown.
"We gave them all the letters that have been sent so far, and they all came back with no prints but with one thing in common," explained Logan.
"What's that?" asked Emily. She reached over and took the fifth bread stick headed toward Parker's mouth away from her.
"What? I'm hungry."
"It's going to spoil your appetite for the tremendous amount of food you ordered so be quiet and pay attention." Emily turned her head back to Logan and nodded for him to continue.
"The ink this guy used is mixed with a toxin. My contacts at the FBI thought that if he was using some sort of different ink we could trace it to were he or she bought it and get a bead on them that way. Turns out the ink is fairly common, but what makes it unique is that the prep mixes it with rattle snake venom."
Emily sat and stared at the salad the waiter had put down while Logan was talking. Next to her Parker picked up her fork and started to twirl the fettuccini she had ordered as an appetizer getting ready to take a bite. It was as if Logan had complimented her on her shoe selection Emily thought, the tennis player acted so unaffected.
"Where does one buy rattle snake venom?" asked Parker. "I mean, I've never been to the grocery when an announcement was made for a price check on register two for rattle snake venom." The joke made Emily get up and run toward the bathroom. "Excuse me a minute, will you?" Parker put her fork down and followed the upset woman.
The last stall in the tiny restroom was closed and Parker could hear sniffling coming from the other side. "Can I come in?" asked Parker. When she didn't get an answer, Parker stepped into the middle stall and stepped up on the toilet. "Please don't shut me out, Em."
"I don't know what it's going to take for you to start treating this like a threat? It doesn't seem fair that I just found you and someone's trying their damnedest to kill you, and you treat it like it's fan mail."
"Open the door for me a second, please?"
Emily reached over and unlatched the door. The size of Parker's body seemed to fill the opening when the door swung back and hit the wall. Not caring for how clean the floor was, Parker kneeled in front of the upset woman and cradled her face in her hands.
"I can't live in fear, Em, it's not who I am. While nothing of this magnitude has happened before, I won't let it change the person I am inside. To do that would mean that I'd have to walk away from you, and no one can ask me to do that. As long as they're intent is set on me, I don't have to worry about you, and I want to keep it that way. I love you, and I know you worry, but this is not going to beat us or me."
"You can't promise that." Emily looked at her like she wanted to believe what Parker was saying, but the tears won out.
"I can and I will. I promise you, baby, this creep with the snake ink is not going to get near me. The right to get in and stay in my personal space is reserved only for you."
"Is it wrong to want you to be careful?" asked Emily.
"No, and I promise I'll start to check our my surroundings more carefully. If this idiot went through all the trouble of milking some deadly snake to pen me a letter, I'm thinking they bare a little more caution on my end. Come on before your salad gets cold."