Fangs
by Ellen Romious
University of the Incarnate Word
Ellen Romious is a current UIW student who is majoring in English with a minor in Secondary Education. Her anticipated graduation date is May 2023. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career in teaching high school or middle school English. In her free time, when she is not reading or writing stories, she enjoys spending time with her husband, three daughters and dog. This is her first published story.
9:54pm, Dr. Maddox blinked at the clock. Rain sloshed against the window of the dark lab. The cool white glow of his desk lamp cast a little island of light over his lonely computer desk. He pushed his thick framed black glasses up on his wide, short nose. His eyes were too small for his round face, which was accentuated by his receding hair line. “I gotta finish this report and get out of here,” he mumbled, but instead he pulled out his cell phone. “Well, one last check won’t hurt,” he opened a dating app. “Heather, 21, Colorado. Swipe Right!”
The sound of the lab door opening startled him. He dropped the phone and scrambled to pick it up. “What the hell….uh, hello,” he recovered, as a tall, stunningly beautiful, blonde woman walked in. She was dressed in a tight fitting black suit.
The woman’s eyes narrowed as she looked at him. “Dr. Maddox?” she asked.
“Please be a stripper-gram,” he muttered quietly.
“I’m Detective Cordova. I heard you’ve found some DNA evidence pertaining to the Dracula murders?”
Confusion spread across his face. “What happened to Detective Rich?”
“He’s been reassigned,” she said curtly. “I’m taking the lead on this case now.”
“I like a woman in charge,” said Maddox, looking her up and down.
“The evidence?” Her tone was authoritative.
“Oh, right,” he turned back to his computer and began typing. “Ok, this may sound crazy, but if I’m right it will blow the whole Dracula case wide open! All along, we’ve assumed the Dracula killer was poisoning his victims and then biting them after they were dead as part of a fetish, but, I think we may have been way off. Take a look at this,” he pulled up an image of what appeared to be the inside of someone’s mouth.
Cordova leaned in closer to look at the screen. Maddox turned his attention back to her. “Are you seeing anyone? Maybe we could grab a bite sometime?”
She ignored his question. “What am I looking at?”
“This is a John Doe that the was shot by police yesterday. Take a look at his canines,” he pointed to the long teeth on the screen. “See how enlarged they are? And I noticed that there was a green residue on them. So I took a sample and tested it in the lab.”
“And?”
“And the DNA came back as human saliva, but also venom,” he paused and searched her face for a reaction.
“Human venom?” Cordova repeated skeptically.
“I know it sounds far fetched,” he explained, “but human salivary glands already produce Kallikrein proteins which are the basis for producing venom. Think about it, all animals that are now venomous, were once, non-venomous. They evolved the ability out of necessity. I think this John Doe, could be the next step in human evolution. What if,” he paused, “the Dracula murder victims weren’t poisoned? What if THIS guy is the murderer, and he was biting the victims and killing them with his venom?”
“You think this John Doe is a murderous, evolved, venomous human?” she leaned back, arms crossed, “and who else have you told this theory to?”
“Well,” replied Maddox, “just you actually. I was working on finishing the formal report.”
“Good,” she smiled. Her lips drew back. Her canines grew in length before Maddox’s eyes. They were a glowing, iridescent, green color. “I’ll take you up on that bite now.”
Interview with the Author
1. What was your inspiration for this piece?
I actually wrote this story for a creative writing class. The prompt was to find a science article and turn it into a flash fiction story. The science in my story is real. I found an article that stated humans have all the building blocks in our DNA to develop venom and was immediately drawn to the idea.
2. What is your creative process? (How do you go about writing or creating?)
My creative process is still in development. I used to just make stories up as I went, but I am trying to focus on having a road map before I get started. I think having my world and characters flushed out prior to actually writing has helped to make my stories more believable.
3. What are some influences on your artistic process?
I love dark, creepy science fiction and fantasy. I'm big on vampire books, shows and movies. I really love anything with monsters. I also love writing female characters that are powerful and dangerous. I write the kind of stories that I want to read.
4. Is there anything more you’d like our readers/viewers to know about you or your work?
Only that I'm just getting started. I plan to continue to develop my writing style and continue to write more stories that I would want to read with dark, creepy monsters and bad ass female characters.