Serpent's Kiss (Elder Races #3)(96)

Carling looked up. “Your head snakes are poisonous.”

“Yes,” Seremela said. “My snakes carry venom that induces paralysis, although if you take a dose from a single bite, the poison isn’t terribly toxic. A human would experience some numbness and lethargy, along with pain and swelling around the area of the bite. Some might get nauseated as well. Generally there would be no need for a dose of antivenin, unless the victim was a child or went into anaphylactic shock. If I was attacked and my snakes were badly frightened, however, they might bite repeatedly, and that could lead to someone dying. Wyr are more immune than humans. If Rune would consent to hold still and let himself be bitten for a couple of days, the venom from my head snakes could eventually stop his heart.” She looked at Carling. “And a medusa’s snake venom has no apparent effect on Vampyres.”

“What about other serpent creatures in the Elder Races?” Carling asked.

“Well, then you add in the extremely unpredictable element of Power,” Seremela said. “The venom from my snakes is mundane; the snakes are just attached to my head, that’s all. We share a sort of symbiotic connection that has some empathy, a very crude kind of telepathy but no real exchange of language, and the poison is just poison. I really hesitate to speculate about another creature, especially one as Powerful an immortal as Python would have been.”

“The Egyptian priestess you spoke to indicated there was some kind of social contract with the serpent goddess,” Rune said to Carling. “So Python must have interacted with the group. It sounded like there was some level of caring involved, or at least worship.”

“Venom, paralysis, time. Some general themes are coming together,” Carling muttered. “As I recall, the priestess talked about Python caring for her children, giving them the kiss of life that was also death. Maybe Python knew her bite would halt the progression of their mortality. Whatever the motivation or reality, it doesn’t matter.”

“Why do you say that?” Rune asked. His eyes were narrowed.

Carling leaned forward, put her elbows on her knees and dug the heels of her hands into her eyes. She had studied both poisons and sorcery. No wonder her healing spells had only worked to stave off the episodes for a time. The healing spells she had given herself were “cure-alls.” In order to create anything more targeted or specific, she would have needed to know the original properties of what she tried to heal. She said dully, “What exists in Vampyres’ veins mutated a very long time ago. It’s a product of the original source as it interacted with the human immune system. We don’t have any of Python’s original venom, so we can’t create any antivenin.”

“What about a more generalized antivenin?” Rune asked, his voice tense.

Carling was shaking her head even as Seremela said, gently, “For something that Powerful and specific, and for the amount of time you indicated you might have left, I’m afraid that would be an exercise in futility. It would take years of experimentation and drug trials. Don’t waste your time.”

Rune’s tension increased. The force of his emotion blasted along Carling’s nerve endings. She said to him, “I know what you’re thinking. Going back again won’t work. I never met Python, and the episodes are too short for you to go looking for her on your own.”

He said roughly, “I can keep going through until I learn how to go back on my own.”

She shook her head. “And risk further changes to this timeline? That’s too dangerous. We said we would stop. We’ve got to stop.”

As Rune opened his mouth to argue, he took note of how her shoulders slumped in discouragement. The line of reasoning in their conversation was a bitter blow to him. How much harder was it for her to hear, after she had borne the brunt of so many disappointments for so long? He bit back what he had been about to say. “Let’s set that aside for now. I think our next step is to go to Louisville and talk to the new Oracle. We need to hear what she has to say, especially if she’s another one of Python’s children.”

She sighed and said, “Yes, we need to go.”

Seremela said quietly, “Would you like for me to examine you while I’m here? I don’t know that I can add any more to what you already know, but this is such a serious issue I really would feel better if we pursued every avenue we have open to us.”

Carling nodded. She let her hands drop away from her face. “It makes sense.”

Rune looked at his iPhone. He asked, “Do you need me for this? Because if you don’t, I’ve got something I need to do.”

Carling turned to him. “No, of course not. What are you going to do?”

“I need to make that phone call,” he said.

Carling scooped up her leather bag and led Seremela into one of the bedrooms. Rune listened to the soft sound of their voices as they talked before he picked up his cell. He hit Dragos on speed dial.

Dragos picked up on the first ring, “There you are. What took you so long?”

“This is the first chance I’ve had to call you,” Rune said.

“It’s been a long day. In fact it’s been a long day for a while, and a lot has happened. Carling and I just returned earlier today from an Other land.”

Dragos said, “Can she overhear you right now?”

Rune glanced at the closed bedroom door. “No,” he replied. “Look I have some things I have to tell you.”