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I stood out in the rain. The heavens were blessing my skin with all of its nutrient rich water from whichever region it had picked up all of the rain water from and drenched our cracked, barren land and my skin. In my slacks and open white shirt, I got drenched.

“Commander Vasilis,” a voice came from behind. “We have an envoy of new omegas on approach.” The Alpha was dressed in all black and carried a semi-automatic strapped across his chest. He was one of my underlings.

I turned to him and swooped a hand through my wet hair. “How far out are they?” I asked. “Is there room for them?”

“The lords have made room,” he said. “They’ve vacated bunker three. We’re going to need you to onboard all of them. Your brother—sorry, our Apex leader is otherwise occupied.”

With my head back once more, I let the rain water fire down on me. “Make sure you get each of them prepared for me,” I told him. “I’m going to be late. My body requires this connection with nature.”

“As you wish, Commander,” he said, giving me a salute and then dropping his hands to his side and marching off.

There wasn’t much to see on the surface, a bunch of broken down dilapidated buildings with crumbling wall panels that begged to be pushed to the ground. We kept them as is because they were great for tourists who frequented the area, although most of them never left, assuming they weren’t human. The humans came and went as they pleased, the last thing we wanted was to make this us against them. We knew if it didn’t effect them, they didn’t fucking care. And we exploited that for everything it was worth.

New Eden might not have looked like much, but if you took a look, you’d see that all the action took place under the surface. The ventilated bunkers connected by long tubes underground, everything was connected, like a maze to some, and with only several entry and exit points, once you were in, you weren’t getting out unless you were part of the syndicate.

I laid in the wet desert sand and looked up at the thunderous clouds as the heavy pour came on thicker and faster. I missed the rain. My species when shifted were meant to live in the lush tropics, we weren’t meant for this dry, cracked, and unmoisturized way of living. It was inhumane, I didn’t know how the other snake breeds managed it.

Another soldier approached with the same information. They were called fang soldiers inside the syndicate, there were also scale sergeants, venom lieutenants, fang commanders, which is where I was, and above me there were venom lords and my brother, our leader, the Apex.

“I’m very aware of the fact,” I told them. “You know the drill. Strap them in, blindfold them, no sedation, and hiss. I like it when I can smell the fear sweats.” My human tongue forked as it licked at the air and returned to normal.

“Yes, Commander.” They said before stomping off.

I knew those underfoot in the bunkers would be able to hear every single stomp from above. It’s what brought me up in the first place, all those heavy rain droplets. I knew something was happening, and I was pleased to see the sky and embrace the rain.

After five minutes of soaked up the rain, and having all my clothes carry the weight oof what it had collected. I stripped naked at one of the covert bunker entrances under a floorboard in one of the abandoned buildings with a sheltered room still intact. I carried the clothes down into the bunker with me. I was proud of my naked body. I worked hard on every single muscle on me, almost like snake scales, they were my human armor. And if that wasn’t threat enough, I was also gifted with something very few serpent shifters possessed in human form, two cocks.

Walking naked through the soldiers sleeping quarters was a show of power. We had omegas and Alphas bunk together, forcing them to confront their urges when they happened. It meant when one omega was in heat, all the Alphas would go at them until they became pregnant. It was their choice, the syndicate considered carrying a child and the future of the syndicate to be one of the biggest things you could do, and you were rewarded well for it. Everyone wanted to be that omega in heat, and the Alpha whose seed beat out all the others.

I had no kids and no want for them. I hadn’t found the one, and I didn’t want a kid if there wasn’t love. I knew what happened to a kid that grew up without two parents in love, and that was someone like me. Their entire life and identity in constant question. It was an opinion best kept to myself though, and a secret I’d die with.

“Vasilis,” my name was hissed at me as I stepped out into the hallway. “You know clothes aren’t optional.” Naja clicked her tongue at me as her eyes flashed an intense green. “We have standards to uphold here. And you’re going to have to take them serious.” Naja was one of the Venom Lords. The Head of Intelligence for the syndicate. She wore tight corseted outfits, made with the bones of those she’d killed. “Your quarters are that way. In case you forgot.” She snapped her head in the direction of my room.

“Got it, Naja, you can always swallow that venom, you don’t have to always spit it,” I said as I walked passed her in the direction of my room. I knew she was looking at me, all of me. Everyone did. It was only natural, even for her, a fellow Alpha.

In my quarters, a replica build of the jungle with moss, branches, and vines growing around everywhere. There were fans and a constant spray of mist to keep the atmosphere nice and hydrated, but it was nothing like the hydration of nature. The water in the mist sprays were purified.

I laid on my hard mattress and looked up at the ceiling which showed the outlines of the metal frame of the box I was inside, removing me from my fantasy. It also pulled me together. I was Vasilis fucking Vepres, and I was a killer, I wasn’t living in the unaware bliss of a jungle, I had a job to do.

The underground was constantly being worked on to expand. And at current, there were three bunkers connected to this main hub. They housed pods of omegas who had mostly volunteered themselves for this great cause.

In my syndicate clothing, a full black suit, capable of hiding any blood stain, I headed to bunker three. The newest batch of omegas were being offloaded and waiting on me, or my brother. Really, any Vepres, but since there was only me or my brother at the Nevada location, I was pretty busy.

The bunkers were capable of housing twenty omegas. This one only had six. They were strapped into the beds that lined either side of the bunker with a large pathway between them for another ten beds if we pleased.

“Commander Vepres,” a soldier saluted me. “They’ve been bound, blindfolded, and we haven’t administered the sedative yet.”

I shook my head. “This group will not receive the sedative,” I announced. “I want to see the full effects.” The smell of fear consumed the room. It was bliss, my cocks throbbed in unison. Just because I didn’t want to mate, it didn’t mean I wasn’t using them. “Listen up, you’re not going to die here. You’re not even going to remember half of what happens to you here. You are, however, going to become very weak, and you will grow sick, but you will be kept alive because you are worth more to us alive than you are dead.”

“At least for the time being,” one of the Venom Lieutenants said from ahead. His teeth were blackened from over-exposure to Rotmor, a toxin carried through my bite. Other serpents didn’t feel the full effects of the disease my bite carried,they were immune to it, but it didn’t stop them from sneaking syringes of the stuff out for their own use.

“Tried and tested,” I said, approaching him. “But in future, I’d rather you didn’t set an example like that to the younger recruits.”

He bowed his head in a nod. “Of course, apologies.” He tried his best to keep his rotted teeth hidden this time. It was such a mark on the syndicate that we couldn’t clean, no mater how much we tried, and we tried, but Rotmor was far more toxic than any of us could’ve realized at the time.

I stalked the aisle, up and down my feet clamping on the metal tubing of the bunker, scaring each of the omegas strapped to the bed. My mouth shifted to fangs and my tongue into a forked shape. It inhaled the stench of their fear, and I wanted more of it. I needed more of it.

Starting at one side of the room, I dipped a knee in front of an omega woman. She was sniffling and sobbing, begging for her life. She’d been paid, whether or not she was getting any use of it was another question, but the funds were transferred. I pushed myself close to her face and flicked my tongue, licking at the sweat on her skin. Pure adrenaline, so sweet and salty, I would’ve torn her face over if I thought I’d be able to keep the high.

“I already told you,” I whispered in her ear. “You’re not going to die here. You will feel pain. You will think death might happen at any minute, and you will of course, beg for death and beg for more.”

“Please, please, please,” she begged.

I sank my teeth into her neck and spray my venom inside her. I missed the artery on purpose, the goal wasn’t death, the goal was to puncture the muscle and push the venom into the hardest working areas. All of that screaming doing all of the work of pushing the venom through her system. She wasn’t even screaming because of the venom, and the puncture were like small needles, hardly painful. She was just scared.

It wasn’t until a minute later when I walked across to the second omega when she felt the first wave of venom, and the initial hit of Rotmor. She was silent and frozen on the spot. I knew behind the blindfold, her eyes were cloudy as she went through the first stage, hallucinations.

“Keep her strapped in,” I said. “Tighten them. She’ll hurt herself when she starts thrashing around.”

One of the soldiers stood by the bed and pulled the binding on her wrists tight. It wasn’t the worst thing in a world, I had made them all a promise that they wouldn’t die here, and I was going to keep it.

Biting each of the omegas and inflicting them with my poison and the Rotmor disease it carried, I was exhausted. I laid down on one of the uncomfortable bed and propped myself up on an elbow to look out at them as they all moaned and groaned under their own limbs that fought to gauge their own eyes out. I knew that’s what they wanted to do because I’d witnessed it happen before.

“There’s something so beautiful about seeing them go through all of this,” I said to whoever was listening. “It’s just a shame I’ve never been able to experience it myself. Very sad, in fact.”

“It’s a great experience. It opens up your third eye. Like you can see the universe collapsing in on itself and then rebirthing in a loop until you’re back to who you are.” One of the black-toothed soldiers spoke to me, the waft of his dead teeth in his mouth drafted out and assaulted my senses.

I sat upright and swung my legs off the side of the bed. My upturned snarl showing just what I thought about the soldier speaking to me. Not only did we have to deal with the omegas thirsty for the venomous high, but our own kind were dealing with their own affliction.

The venom didn’t have the same effect on other serpent shifters. It was actually one of the sure ways we could test to see if any of the omegas had lied to us about their lineage. But that never happened, serpent shifters were proud of their heritage, nobody would ever hide that from the world.

“Let me know if anything changes in them,” I said, slapping both hands off my knees. “And that means any discoloration of their skin, lesions, or maybe a mutation.” Because in the end, that was one of the goals.

The entire Serpentine Syndicate’s operation was to take over. We had operations in California, Arizona, and here, in Nevada. They weren’t my choices, I’d have preferred somewhere more tropical, but the Vepres family, my family were all here, not natives to this land, we were an invasive species, and we were only just beginning to sink our teeth into the world.