Hah. I would like to see them try.
I’d wipe the humans from these lands but they have females...and for that reason, they remain alive.
I want my red-headed beauty.
I’ll have to fight for her, kill for her. And I’m willing to do more than that, but I do not want her hurt. And fighting? I’ve seen enough death to know accidents happen. They have machines, and not all machines can be trusted.
It wasn’t that long ago. Days, maybe? Seems like an eternity. The other nagas came together after word spread of what happened to Zaku. It wasn’t hard to win me over. I would do anything for her.
When I first saw her, everything changed.
Gone was the bloodlust, the anger. Real lust took its place. Red hot desire, with a wild mane of red hair to match. Transfixed, I stared that first day as she descended from the ramp, realizing something more miraculous than machines had fallen from the heavens. She looked around with wonder and curiosity.
She had gazed at the sky and the clouds above. She had touched the grass at her feet. Her tongue poked out to swipe at her lips.
Her eyes had found mine, even as I hid beyond her barrier, in the shadows of the forest. From that moment, she was mine.
A human female, wondrous in her rarity, who with one look ruined me.
My female.
The way her eyes widened. The way her lips parted…
The fear on her face hadn’t bothered me at all.
She was mine. I expected her to face her fear and come to me then, but instead, she turned away and rushed into the shadows of the facility, leaving me bereft, lusty, and angry.
But she had looked at me, had met my gaze. She saw me, and that was all that mattered. Now I know I am in her head. She will always remember the first time she saw me. For I am a strong male, a vicious one, and refused to be forgotten.
It would be dangerous to forget me.
My anger returned after I lost sight of her, and my agitation at these human interlopers built. My need for this female stole my mind. Reclaiming the facility and this land meant nothing if I couldn’t have her. I wanted both but only cared about the latter.
I saw her first.
She saw me first.
She was in my head. No other naga’s head mattered unless they were hanging from a rope off my belt or lobbed off and impaled on my spear, decorating the entrance to my den.
But as whispers of human females spread through the forest—the mountains—the other nagas had similar thoughts. My female wasn’t the only one, and nagas from far afield, males I have not seen in years, returned to see them, to steal them, to mate with them, and hoard them away in our respective nests.
The heat overcame us all like a storm. To conquer. These females came from the skies to be ours. We became very aware of our diminishing numbers, and with the threat of invaders from the skies on our minds…our biology altered against us, clouding our minds.
I started giving off a strange scent.
I wasn’t the only one who changed, nor the only one desperate to nest. A piece within us unlocked, and it can’t be undone. Some nagas feared the change and fled, hoping the change would reverse.
Less to die by my hands. I hiss out a breath of air.
Azsote, a Boomslang, snaps his tail. “And if they don’t release them?”
“We invade with our weapons and strike them down. They need to know this land is not theirs, not without a price,” Zaku snarls. Some of the other males snarl with him. The King Cobra is out for blood, one way or another. A king, even though Zaku wasn’t one, doesn’t like being told what to do.
Zaku’s only king in name, and he holds no more sway or dominion than the rest of us.
“They will pay for it with females,” I say.
Azsote snaps his tail again. “Yesss.”
“They want our technology, our land… We will give them a little for a lot more,” Zaku agrees.
I eye the facility far, far in the distance, through the trees and across the shattered landscape, hoping to see her. A splash of red among the green. But she’s nowhere to be found from our vantage point way up on the cliffs.
I haven’t seen her in many days. Venom leaks from my fangs. I need to see her soon or I may do something crazed, like storm the humans’ barrier and take on their robots for just a glimpse.
She is the same color as me. I never thought such a female existed besides my sisters. One with Viper in her blood.
My hands tremble with the need to comb my fingers through her hair. My nose itches to burrow into her neck and languish in its warmth.
“We give them nothing, and they won’t be the wiser,” I hiss, “while they give usss everything in return.”
The other males beat their chests and hoot in agreement. The coming hunt excites us. I feel it in my veins, the way my blood pumps heavy. I slam my fist against my chest and hoot with them.
“How many females are there?” Vagan asks when we settle. “Not enough, last I checked.” His blue scales and long, slender body are like mine, except he is blue where I am red. Vagan is of the Blue Coral clan, a ruler of the dangerous waterways. He may be brightly colored like me, but to face him near water was certain death.
Of all the nagas gathered, Vagan is the one I watch the most. Him and the Death Adder.
But Zhallaix, the Death Adder, is not here. He would rather kill us than work with us. An enemy to us all. He has no honor, nor allegiance. Ruthless and wild, he is probably fucking a mossy rock and spitting venom somewhere
