Viper Ch. 01

"So, I need you to work on something important, since we've been so swamped."

"Oh, really? What is it?" She just knew this would be her chance, to work on that case she overheard.

"These rumors about these vipers or whatever are picking up steam again. Why? Who the hell knows. But I want you to find out where they're coming from and put it to bed. Too many people call hear asking about all kinds of mythical creatures, and they're getting on my nerves. I need you to-

"Are you serious, Jack? I don't want to do that kind of stuff. I thought you were going to have me working on something important."

"This is important, Wilson. This is helping us get the phones clear and make things less busy for us, so we can focus on the important stuff and get these good stories out."

Laila was more than upset. Not only did she not care about the viper myths, she felt like her boss was making fun of her or something.

"But Jack, you know I've been putting in work. And you know I'm reliable. Why are you having me do this? Why can't I work on that murder case with the blonde woman? It sounds like a difficult one, and you could use my help."

"No, Wilson, you're not working on that case. You're not ready, and I need you to do this."

"So, you'd rather me look into these 'vipers' or whatever people think they are, rather than some potential murderer out there terrorizing the city? Why can't I help? I can research more about the suspects, or even interview the families of the victims to find out more. Maybe even the locations where-

"Wilson, you are not working on this case, plain and simple. Me and my team have got that under control. Work on the vipers thing."

"Fine." Laila said as she stormed out of his office and went back to her desk to work. She couldn't believe after all that it was just another busy work assignment. She tried to forget about it all, and just do research and get to work.

***

"Sooo you're not gonna do it?"

"I'm saying I don't want to do it Jess. Like why is leaving me stuck with this shit?"

"I don't know. Just drink and forget about all that."

It was that same evening, a few hours after work, and Laila and Jessie were unwinding at a local bar, something they frequently did to relieve the stress of their jobs at the paper. It almost became a ritual of sorts for them, venting and laughing about the crazy things they heard about and had to go through each day. They were still wearing their work clothes from earlier.

"Yea, you're right. Nothing like a little liquor to solve all your problems." Laila snickered as she took another sip of her drink, her third that night already.

"I mean I didn't say all that now." Jessie replied as she also took a sip.

"You make it seem like this magical elixir or something Jess. What's next, it'll make me immortal, help me grow wings?" Laila quipped once again as she took another big sip.

"I mean it might as well be for you. You're the only person, man or woman, I've ever met who can drink literally all night and not throw up, get nauseous or anything."

"Hey, what do you want me to say? I've been blessed with incredible tolerance. It's not your fault you can't handle more than three drinks."

"I can handle three drinks. I just...need to clean it out before I get some more that's all." Jess said as they both laughed out loud, remembering all the times Jessie had to vomit after drinking too much.

"I mean I still feel the buzz or whatever, the fun feeling alcohol gives you. Just not all the horrible, toxic stuff."

"Whatever, lucky you."

"Lucky?? You don't get chewed out by Jack on a daily basis. I don't know what that guy has against me. Maybe he smells my ambition."

"Nope, he can't smell it over his own beer cans and cigarettes." Jessie said as they both laughed again.

"True, true. But seriously, Jess, I don't want to deal with this viper stuff. It's a bunch of baloney really."

"Come on, Laila, it might be fun. Plus, you never know, you might find some alien species or even a unicorn out there." Jess said with a sarcastic smirk and tone.

"Oh really? So, I'll tell Jack that you can take the story, and I can do something else."

"You. Better. Not."

"See? Even you know how ridiculous this is." Laila said as she finished her third drink and started on her fourth.

"I mean I don't really think about wild myths like that. But, I also don't doubt anything. I mean you never know what's out there."

"You can't be serious."

"Come on, at the worst you'll have a little fun interviewing people and researching some stuff. You do that all the time anyway, I know how much you love it. You could try watching that YouTube channel that makes videos about that stuff."

"You're talking about Creatures Unlimited? No thanks, they woke me up this morning already. But I guess you're right about the researching and whatever. It's just there's more important stories out there, and I want to be a part of getting those out to the people."

"You heard about the weird case with the blonde lady downtown? I heard she had these crazy scars or marks or something all over her body, from the neck down. That's some creepy shit."

"Yea it is pretty crazy. And you know what makes it worse? I was looking up some things during work today, and it turns out there were two other similar cases that happened earlier this year. But they were so far apart and few and far between that people never made the connection."

"Similar how?"

"Well for one they were both women in the middle of the night, like wee hours of the morning, and they were alone, just like the woman last night. And also like woman last night, there were no witnesses or alibis, so there's no info on the assailant."

"Were there weird scars?"

"That I don't know, it wasn't published in the stories for some reason. But I mean it sounds similar, doesn't it?"

"It does kind of, but you need more info to make a clear connection. That could still just be a coincidence."

"Yea well, as soon as I'm done with this viper myth, I'm working on it, whether Jack likes it or not."

"Excuse me, ladies, care for a drink? You two look pretty stressed." A man said as he walked over to where Laila and Jessie were sitting.

"Oh, hey, umm, no I think we're okay." Laila said as she turned around.

"Sure, we'll take two please. Same thing we got right here." Jessie said as she turned to Laila and gave her a desperate look. Laila knew she wanted to talk to him, but she wasn't in the mood for it tonight. Her job was causing too much stress, and she was already thinking about the information about the murders and her impending task. But she went along with it this time, rolling her dark brown eyes right at Jessie's brown eyes.

"I'll take one, thank you." Laila said as she turned to look at the man. He wasn't unattractive, with short brown hair and a clean-shaven face, and a pretty strong physique.

As she glanced further down to his pants, she also saw a noticeable bulge in his pants. He was already rock hard, and he had only been next to them for a minute, tops. This always happened when she and Jessie went to a bar or club, at least one man would always walk up to them, usually multiple times. Laila also noticed that it happened to her when she was alone too, the man almost went into a fever when they were around her. They became so accustomed to it happening that they knew just how to play it.

"Man, you can really chug 'em, girl, I'd have trouble hanging with you."

"Well, I guess we'll have to see."

***

Later that night, Laila was back at her apartment, back in her t-shirt and panties, and feeling good from the buzz of all the drinks she had earlier that evening. Her and Jessie had split up, and Jessie, who started to take a liking to the guy they met, decided to follow him back home for some more 1-on-1 time. Laila was a good sport for the evening, and accepted the free drinks, but she couldn't help but ponder over the particulars of that case, even while she was having fun. Now that she was home, she could do more research, but first she needed to finish this vipers story, which Jack wanted done in a week.

Just as she was about to get back to work, she got a call from Jessie:

"Laila?"

"You really do this every single time, don't you? I'm starting to think it's just a running joke."

"It's obviously a running joke. I just called to make sure you got home okay."

"Yea, I'm okay, remember I don't get that messed up from drinking to where I can't drive. I was good."

"Yea, yea, don't remind me. I know, just making sure."

"What about you? How'd things go with the guy?"

"It was fine. Honestly, I got too sick and he just drove me home. I knew I had one too many drinks, but damn I didn't think it'd get that bad."

"Aww, well that was nice of him. You should've known, I told you three's your limit."

"Well people are meant to evolve, so maybe that means me too. Anyways, how's the viper thing going?"

"Ugh, I mean I didn't want to do it, but it's crazy how many stories are out about this, and how much information there is. I mean seriously, Jess, people have like full-fledged theories about vipers, but I don't think any of them are true."

"I told you, people are serious about this stuff. What kind of theories are you talking about?"

"Well, there's this one guy named Dr. Hannon, who has been writing a blog about vipers for a while now, and his theories are probably the most complex I've found. Apparently, he believes that the vipers are an alien species that has been living on Earth for centuries, hunting down humans and taking their bodies. It's pretty wild, and basically like a plotline from that one alien movie, but people have been like reading his page and commenting for a long time now, and it's one of those theories that's picked up some real steam. He doesn't even post on the page that much anymore, it just survives off the conversation from other people."

"Yea, that's definitely from that body snatcher movie. But that is interesting, I told you it'd be fun to research."

"I don't know about all that, but here's what I find even more interesting: Apparently, there have been rumors spreading around here about the existence of vipers, that's why Jack asked me to work on this, besides being an asshole and giving me busy work. No one has ever seen a viper, nor do they have evidence. But there have been some wild occurrences and people use the viper myth as a means to explain it. Something even happened two nights ago that people are saying is proof that a viper could possibly exist."

"Jeez, this city never ceases to amaze me. But that makes sense, when something weird happens, people usually use a rumor to explain it. So, do you have enough to write the story now?"

"Nah, not yet, I need to get a quote or anecdote from...someone. I think I'm gonna roll with this last thing that happened the other night. I'm going to try to look for her friends she was with, they spoke with a news station the night after it happened."

"Where did it happen?"

"It was that fancy futuristic club, Club Strobe."

"Club Strobe?? Laila..."

"Jess, no."

"Laila, it'll be fun. You know I've been wanting to go there since they announced plans to build it here. It looked so cool on the website and the reviews have been really good. You got to admit, it looks cool."

"I mean it's different, that's for sure. But you know what happens to me whenever I go to clubs, Jess. And I don't know..."

"You mean when every guy gets rock hard and can't help but dance with you and try to get your number? Oh woe is me..."

"Yes. That."

"I mean it's a good thing, Laila. You got a steady supply of guys and hard dicks coming at you."

"Of course, I don't mind that at all, but you've seen how it gets. It gets to be a little crazy."

"It's probably cause of all this ass we got. Especially you, with those curves. Those guys probably can't resist."

Laila knew that both she and Jessie had voluptuous bodies and nice brown skin, but that still didn't explain what happened when she was around a lot of men in a club or bar setting. It was on another level.

"Whatever you say, I don't know if ass explains it all."

"You'll like it Laila. You like seeing new places in the city, if only because you get to see what's going on. Plus, it'll let you unwind from all this stress we've been having at work lately."

"I guess it does look pretty interesting..."

"Yeaaa?"

"And more importantly, it would give me a chance to potentially find out more information about this crazy case, not to mention I need to finish this viper thing. Maybe I could ask the owner of the club more about what type of characters go in and out of there. And if people around there have seen anything weird or out of place."

"So it's settled, we're going?"

"Fine, we're going. It's a good idea all the way around I guess." Laila said as she grinned a little and lay on her bed next to her computer. She did need a little more stress relief than the evening bar outing were giving her, and going to Club Strobe might be just the thing she needed.

"Yay! That's what I'm talking about. Let's go this Saturday, cool?"

"Cool, sounds good."

"I can't wait! And we gotta find something to wear, it's gonna be so much fun!"

"Yea, yea, yea. Well, let me get back to work. I'm going to try and track down these friends of the woman I was talking about earlier, and see if we can set up a time to talk soon. I'll talk to you later Jess."

"Alright, Laila, and make sure you get some type of sleep, before you get sick or something."

"You know I hardly ever get sick. But I will, night."

"Night."

***

"It's not too busy, is it? I'm not really in the mood for crowded places right now."

"Nah, it's been a slow night, you should be just fine. Plenty of room in the back especially."

"Alright, thanks."

Tristan entered the bar with a stoic look on his face, and went to order a couple of drinks. The club, if you could call it that, was the same one he frequented on a regular basis. It was a hole in the wall type that had been open for decades, but still brought in the same regular patrons. It had become somewhat of a safe haven for people who were either depressed, needed to fuck quickly or didn't give a fuck at all. Tristan just needed to figure out which person he was tonight.

"How's it been? Everything alright around here?" He said to the bartender, who he was cool with from coming around so often.

"Eh, it's been the same, nothing special. What about you?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, the usual."

"Any fun you want to tell me about? You know I'm all ears."

"Nothing I want to tell you about, but fun nonetheless." Tristan said as he took his first sip of his drink.

"Mmm hmm, fine then. City's been kind of crazy though."

"Yea, I almost wish it was as chill out there as it was in here. That would be nice."

"Well, but then you wouldn't be able to have all your fun with the ladies out there."

"Oh, I meant excluding that, obviously." Tristan said as he took another sip and chuckled with the bartender.

"You hear about that crazy murder case with the blonde woman?"

"Blonde woman?"

"Yea, they said she had like weird marks all over her body, like some weird shit. I mean I know this city has drama, but that's wild even for us."

"No, I don't think I have. Must have been too preoccupied with my 'fun', as you call it to notice."

"Sure, sure. Hey, speaking of, might have just found a little something for you to do tonight, if you're up for it. She's got one hell of a body, too, damn."

"Alright, I'll bite, where?"

"Couple of tables back, dark brown skin with the dark red jacket and two braids. She's talking to some other girl, but I don't think they're flirting or anything. Should be open if you want her."

Tristan turned around to find the woman the bartender was talking about, and almost did a double take when his eyes found her. She indeed had dark chocolate skin with two long braids reaching down the middle of her back. And the bartender wasn't doing her body justice with his description. She definitely had a hell of a body, with nice thick thighs and curves that he could pick out even with her sitting down in the wooden chairs. She seemed to be pretty focused on whatever she was doing though.

"Eh, I don't know, she looks pretty busy and focused on her conversation. It's probably not best to bother her tonight."

"Oh, really, you're being mister chivalry now?"

"It's not that, I just don't like butting into conversations or whatever. I prefer to get them when they're alone. Besides, I guess I'm not really in the mood anyways. I might just finish my drinks and head back."

"Suit yourself, there's been like two guys that have already walked up to her, but she dismissed them."

"Even more reason for me not to get involved right now, see? I'll catch you next time." Tristan said as he finished his second drink and walked out the club. While he truly wasn't feeling up to it tonight and was probably a bit tired, he couldn't help but think about the girl in the dark red jacket. She was definitely attractive and there was something different about her...

***

"So why did you choose this place again? It looks like an old saloon from those western movies."

Laila was at an old club on the outskirts of the city, one she'd never been to before. She'd never even heard about this place, and now she realized why. Nonetheless, she had finally tracked down one of the friends of the woman connected to the incident associated with the viper rumors, and it was her who chose this place. Laila decided to just sit down and talk with her after work, even though she was tired and probably needed sleep. She hadn't even changed out of her work clothes.

"I mean, it's like a low-key place, so we probably won't be eavesdropped on or found out. This is wacky stuff we're talking about here, I don't want a bunch of people to know." The woman replied.

"Right, well thanks for agreeing to talk to me. It means a lot that you trust me with this."

"No problem, you seemed nice."

Laila took another quick glance at the woman's disposition. She was a young woman, probably in her mid to late 20s like herself, with straight brown hair and brown eyes. She seemed alright, but she was acting kind of fidgety and twiddling her thumbs. Maybe it was because she was meeting someone new, or maybe she hadn't been to this club before. But Laila had a suspicion that it had something to do with whatever happened to her friend. She wasn't too keen on all this viper nonsense, but she had to admit, the girl was acting like it was pretty serious.

"So, let's just start from the beginning. Tell me what happened to..."

"Brittany."

"Brittany. Tell me what happened to Brittany."

"Well, we were out at Club Strobe, it was this fancy new club and we always go out to clubs, so we just had to try it out. Brittany especially is like a party animal, so we were definitely going. We went in, starting dancing and drinking and everything, you know having a good time. We were out late, so it was about midnight when Brittany split up from the rest of us..."

"She wasn't pulled away by someone, was she?"

"No, she just wanted to go get her flats from her car cause her feet were killing her. Anyway, she tells us that she'll meet us back in the club, and we're like whatever okay. But then like a lot of time passed by..."

"More time than it would take to find some shoes and change into them..."

"Right, exactly. Like 20, 30, 40 minutes. 1 hour. By the time two hours went by we figured something had to be wrong, so we all leave the club and go to her car. We found her there, in the backseat of her own car, with her panties off, dressed pulled up, and her hair was kind of messy too. And also..." The woman looked away.