SWNOVELXO Chapter 5: A Kiss of Fangs
She landed on him.
One moment Riven was scrambling for his comm, the next he was flat on his back, the breath knocked out of his lungs as her weight slammed him into the mucus-slick floor.
"Ugh—!"
She was deceptively light for something so strong, but the pressure on his chest was undeniable. Two of her four hands pinned his wrists above his head, while the others pressed down on his shoulders like iron bars. Her insectoid legs straddled him, talons digging into the flesh-like walls for balance. Her wings flickered once, shedding a fine mist of residue that glimmered faintly in the low light.
Riven struggled, gritting his teeth. "Get… off me!"
She didn't respond — not in words.
She only stared.
"Must eat…" she murmured, her voice hoarse, almost pleading.
Riven froze as her gaze drifted downward — to the gash just under his ribs. Blood seeped through the tear in his suit, a slow, sticky trickle against the pale of his exposed skin.
Her pupils didn't dilate. She didn't blink.
She leaned in.
"Hey—HEY! Don't—!"
She sniffed.
Long, deep inhalations, the small white antennae at her temples twitching like tuning forks. Then, slowly — deliberately — she extended her tongue and licked the blood trailing down his side.
Riven jolted. "The fuck?! Are you some kind of leech?!"
But she wasn't listening.
She lifted her head.
And paused.
A long, strange silence followed — as if she was tasting the sweetness of it.
Then her body trembled.
Her eyes flared with bioluminescent intensity. Her wings buzzed once, reflexively. A strange noise crawled up her throat — somewhere between a growl and a gasp.
And then she roared.
The sound wasn't human.
It shook the cavity walls, sent flakes of dried membrane tumbling from the ceiling. It was fury and hunger and need compressed into one violent scream.
Riven barely had time to flinch before she lunged forward again.
"No—!"
Her fangs — yes, fangs — sank into his shoulder.
Pain exploded through his nerves as her jaws clamped down, puncturing flesh just deep enough to bleed — not enough to kill.
Then she drank.
Riven cried out, thrashing beneath her, panic kicking in full force. "You crazy fucking bug-bitch—!"
His pulse pounded. His vision blurred. His limbs grew sluggish.
And she drank deeper.
Suddenly, a red flash burst across Riven's vision.
A translucent system window slammed into focus, blinking violently:
[WARNING: Your genetic code is being FORCEFULLY ALTERED.]
[Foreign Mana Signature Detected: TYPE — Parasitic Fusion is braking down your DNA structure.]
[Genetic integrity compromised.]
"W—What the fuck—?!" Riven choked, trying to blink the message away. It stayed, burned into his sight like it had been seared behind his eyelids.
"She's… infecting me?"
His thoughts reeled, his stomach twisting.
He tried to move again, but his arms felt like wet paper. His blood was rushing out, but more than that — something was rushing in.
His mana. His circuits. His soul?
It all felt wrong. Like invisible fingers were peeling apart the scaffolding of his body from the inside out.
His vision began to blur.
The edges dimmed first, like a camera lens fogged by cold sweat. His pupils dilated, struggling to focus. All he could see was the faint, bioluminescent glow of her eyes and the smears of his own blood painted across her mouth.
His heart slowed.
His thoughts… drifted.
'Is this really the end?'
The pain faded to a dull throb, like his nerves had given up screaming. Everything inside him felt cold. Empty. His limbs no longer responded. Even the panic began to drown beneath the crushing wave of exhaustion.
'All I ever wanted… was something beyond this dog-eat-dog life.'
His mind wandered.
To the cracked ceiling of his shoebox apartment. To the roaches that crawled behind the fridge. To the debt notices.
The cramped apartment. The overdrafts. The city that never sleeps unless he passed out drunk in an alley.
His lips barely moved, the thought half-formed.
'Was I so wrong to hope for something better…?'
'Was I…?'
Then, suddenly, she stopped.
The pressure on his chest lifted slightly. Her mouth, still dripping with his blood, pulled away from the torn flesh of his shoulder.
For a heartbeat, the air was thick with silence — her glowing eyes staring at him, unreadable.
And then she moved.
She leaned back slowly, releasing his wrists, her four hands drawing away from his shoulders like claws retracting from prey. Her wings twitched — not in agitation, but almost… thoughtfully.
Riven's mind was a fog, but a sliver of instinct sparked in his gut.
'She stopped…'
'Maybe I can run.'
His fingers twitched.
His leg moved.
'Maybe… I can still get out—'
A sudden growl from her froze him in place.
Low. Guttural. Not loud — but enough to paralyze him.
Her wings flared wide, throwing droplets of blood and slime into the air like a sudden gust. Her body tensed. Her eyes locked onto him.
A warning.
Riven froze mid-breath.
The air between them seemed to vibrate.
'So this is it…'
He didn't finish the thought. He couldn't.
There was no more room for hope.
Only inevitability.
His heart sank, resignation settling in like cold lead. But then, as his tears dried on his cheeks, her head tilted downward.
She leaned closer, her antennae twitching as she sniffed at his pants. Her eyes... those unblinking, bioluminescent orbs, suddenly lit up with an unsettling gleam.
With a single, effortless motion, her bizarre strength took hold. Her claws hooked into the fabric of his pants, and with a sharp rip, she tore them away, leaving him exposed.
Riven's breath hitched, his mind reeling in confusion and terror. "W-what… is… she doing?" he rasped, his voice barely a whisper, his body too weak to resist.
His senses began to haze, the world dissolving into a fog of pain and exhaustion. Riven could barely process what was happening, his thoughts sluggish, his body numb. He blinked, each moment stretching into eternity, he could make out her figure as she walked away, as she did he noticed a strange slimy white liquid trickling down her thighs, and in the next instant, he completely blacked out.
In the depths of his slumber, the system sent out a notification.
[Warning… Your genetic code has been deeply damaged...]
[Death imminent...]
[Your skill: Continuous Growth is reacting...]