NOVEL NEXT Chapter 35: Is there really a chance?
Her eyes then snapped open.
There was no groggy waking, no slow return to consciousness, but as if she was awake the entire time. The scene felt as if one second she was asleep, the next, her eyes were wide open and fixed directly on him.
All the vulnerability vanished, replaced by a feral, icy glare. Her lip curled back, revealing the tips of sharp fangs, and a low, warning hiss escaped her throat, a sound that seemed to make the very air in the cave grow colder. She slowly slithered back on her tail in a fluid, terrifyingly fast motion, her claws flexing, her body coiled and ready to strike.
It was then that the idiot snapped out of his daydream, only then did he realise his situation, He was an intruder. And she was very, very much awake.
The air in the cave seemed to freeze solid at that point, For a single, stretched-out second, Adrian and the Gorgon girl just stared at each other, a human and a myth trapped in a silent, underground world. He saw the recognition of an intruder in her slitted serpentine blue eyes, followed by a flash of pure, predatory instinct.
He didn't even have the time to raise his knife before she acted.
She moved faster than a striking snake. From standing across the cave like clearing, she blurred into motion. Adrians eyes couldn't even follow her movements before the next instance, a powerful, muscular force carried by her whipping tail slammed into him, knocking the breath from his lungs and sending the kitchen knife on his left clattering to the stone floor. She used just enough strength to disarm him without dealing too much damage, which showed just how terrifying her control was.
Before he could even process the impact, he felt something thick and strong and devastatingly fast coil around his legs, then his hips and finally around his chest, his hands that were midair due to her earlier attack finally dropping to the side of her thick coils.
From begining to finish, Adrian was completely helpless as she made her moves in quick succession. Her powerful, serpentine tail covered in those same iridescent scales, now squeezing the air from his lungs in a terrifying, relentless grip.
"Urrgh!" Blood rushed to Adrian's head, his eyes being suffused with blood from the constricting grip of her coils.
He was trapped, utterly and completely. He could feel the incredible strength in those coils, a strength that could easily crush his ribs to splinters. He struggled to breathe, spots dancing in his vision, his heart hammering against the scaly prison.
' Crap! No, No!'
' This can't be happening again! If I don't do something I'm going to die again!' Adrian realised the graveness of his current situation. He knew that if he didn't stop her. Death was just a few seconds away, but what could he do when she had single handedly restrained him in the blink of an eye.
He tried to speak but all that came out of his mouth was blood mixed in saliva which he spat out. He was choking on his own blood which was a truly tragic sight.
His vision dimmed even more as everything began to spin in his eyes, his face turning a suffocating blue. But then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the pressure stopped increasing.
The Gorgon girl's face, which had been a mask of feral rage, was now inches from his. Her head was tilted, those icy serpentine blue eyes wide with a confusion so deep it overrode her anger.
She was staring at his face, this time she took a good look at him. Her nostrils flared as she sniffed the air around him as if trying to ascern something. He could see the subtle shift in her expression, the dawning, impossible realization.
' Good. Look like she remembers me.' Adrian thought, his mind reeling with joy even as he fought for air. ' This is my chances, I need to convince her that I'm not a treat so she can let me go, otherwise, I'm not so sure if I'll be able to revive again next time.'
He knew the chances of success were slim but what choice did he have. He had to try and talk or die trying.
"I… I'm not here… to fight you," he managed to gasp out, the words strained. " Please could you loosen the hold a bit more so that I can explain myself." He pleaded, Adrian felt hopeful since she seemed more attuned to human language than Grey but that also made him a bit worried since that would mean she had interacted with people before, and if that were the case, judging by her reactions, her encounters mustn't have been good ones. Which might play against him in his effort to get her on his side.
Her eyes narrowed, the confusion mixing with suspicion. The coils around his chest tightened just a fraction instead of loosening which made Adrian's expression sink, from the looks of it, She wasn't buying a word he said, not one bit. Of course she wasn't. He was in her home, armed. What kind of sain person would listen to the words of a suspected killer.
Thinking fast, he forced his pinned right hand to open, letting the second knife he'd been clutching for awhile now, fall from his numb fingers. It slid off her tail and hit the ground with a dull clang.
"S-See?" he wheezed. "I've dropped my weapon, I really don't have any bad intentions."
Her gaze flicked to the knife, then back to his face. The suspicion didn't fade. She could still feel the hard, lumpy objects tied to his chest beneath his fur tunic.
She didn't understand why he was still alive but she understood hidden threats. A low, dangerous hiss started in her throat when she thought that he was trying to decive her and the coils began to tighten again, ever so slowly.
Feeling the pressure around him increasing, Adrian's eyes trembled in fear.
"Okay, okay! Wait!" he pleaded, his voice tight with panic. "Just… wait. I'll get rid of them right now!"
Moving as slowly as he could, he used his one free hand to fumble at the cord tied around his neck, beneath his clothes. It was difficult with the constricting pressure, but after a few frantic seconds, he managed to pull the loop over his head and managed to toss them further away from him. He let the bundle of sharpened wooden stakes fall to the floor away from them. They landed with a series of soft, wooden clacks.
Her brows furrowed together at his actions as if she was confused as to why he'd do such a thing, though her suspicions still persisted.
She looked down at the crude, pointed sticks some feet away, then back up at him with an unhappy look that seemed to question why he'd bring such wicked things her. Her expression darkened when she thought that these were for her. But the darkness parted a bit to reveal her confusion that remained as she wondered why he was giving them up.
The change was slow but was evident nonetheless. The aggressive, murderous tension in her body seemed to leak away. The relentless pressure of her coils loosened, not enough to free him, but enough for him to draw a deep, shuddering breath. She was still holding him, but she was no longer trying to crush him.
Right now she was curious, about several things. One being how he was here alive in her home. And why he still seemed as harmless as the last time she had met him.
" See, told you I'm not here to hurt you." Adrian said while struggling to catch his breath, he never thought the day would come when he cherished breathing so much. Well it was like they said, one only learns to truly cherish something only after they'd lost that said thing.
She didn't reply but with a fluid, sinuous motion, she unwrapped her tail from around his body.
" Woah..." He stumbled forward a step, his legs wobbly, rubbing his sore chest. She didn't retreat. Instead, she leaned in even closer, her face so near he could feel her breath on his skin. It didn't smell foul, but had a metallic bloody scent to it mixed with hints of frost. Her slitted pupils were dilated, studying every inch of his face as if he were a puzzle she was determined to solve. From her expression, one could tell that she was still confused as to how he was here? Or to be specific, How could he still be alive after what she did to him last time.
At the thought of that moment, her frosty expression broke down a bit to reveal a rare fleeting look of that same regret which Adrian noticed. Her signs of regret made him feel hopeful again, at least now he felt like he had a chance.