Arya slides her way onto her front porch the morning after the most wonderful night of her life. After that great evening with Jay at the Case de Cockatoo, she finally peeled back the false human disguise to show him the real her, scales and all. Just remembering how lovingly he held her after she had exposed the truth to him sends a twitterpating shiver down to the tip of her tail. How could she have ever hidden herself from him for so long in the first place? It doesn’t matter, because now, the two of them are going to have happiness moving forward. No hiding from the truth, no screwing people over in corporate espionage, and—most importantly—no overbearing males to ever make her do what she doesn’t want ever again. She wants the glow of the morning to never end, but also knows she had to get home and take care of a few things first.
When she stops and reaches for her keys, however, she notes her door is slightly ajar. Her heart beats like the drums from the club as she stares at the sign of intrusion. Her hand trembles as she reaches out for it, her forked tongue licking over her fangs, prepping them to defend herself against any intruders.
The door swings wide open before she has a chance to even touch the handle, only to reveal the massive snake on the other side.
Her uncle easily dwarfs Arya. Easily a foot longer than she is, he has the build of a snake who has enforced the laws of organized crime through sheer force. His gaze cows her into lowering herself. Though he only has half the capacity to harm with his glare ever since he lost his right eye, he has more power in that one  eye than she ever think she will have in hers.
“Ah, my beautiful little girl,” he hisses, holding his arms out wide. “Welcome home.”
Arya slides right up into his arms, feeling the familiar embrace of the man who practically raised her. He pulls her inside, letting his tail slam the door behind her. “Ah, It’s been so long since we’ve had a real heart-to-heart in person.”
I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy lately,” she says. “Can I get you something to drink, Uncle?”
“Ah, yes, water will be fine,” he says, letting her go as he glides over towards a set of cushions to rest upon. He coils up, leaning back against the seat, the tip of his tail draping over the side. “How have you been? How’s the love life going?”
Arya freezes with her hand on her freezer door. She tries to quickly second guess what her uncle knew but takes a quick, deep breath and closes her eyes. “It’s… it’s fine. Thank you for asking.”
“Just fine, eh? Sure it’s not going well? After all, you bought that nice dress just to impress your new boyfriend, right?”
She shudders, but pulls the door open, getting the ice before she heads over to the sink. “I bought it because I thought I would get something nice for me with the money I earned.”
As turns the knob on the faucet, his hand grabs the glass. She squeaks at his sudden lunge, but he holds the cup under it as he responds. “You know you can ask me for anything that you need. New dresses, money, even a boyfriend, if you want. I know plenty of eligible bachelors who’d love to coil up with a lover on a cold winter’s day.
“N… no, that’s fine. I can’t rely on you forever, Uncle, it’s
not fair to you,” she says, heading out of the kitchen so as not to be cornered.
“Not fair?” He booms, shutting the sink off and then following her with his mad speed “Not fair?” His hands grasp her shoulders, squeezing her just a bit too much. “What do you know about ‘not fair?’ Have you ever lived on the street with no one to care for you? Have you ever had to do something for someone you love that made you stay awake for months at a time? Have you ever had to sacrifice something?” he asks, pointing to his eye patch.
“I’m sorry, Uncle, I just… thought you’d want me to be my own woman.”
“Baby girl,” he coos, slithering around her, his tail encircling her. “We’re family, and family looks out for each other. When family looks out for each other, family survives in this cold, hard world. It’s because of family I got off with only losing my eye. It’s because of family that I took you in when you were thrown out on the street. It’s because of family that I decided to even consider helping the daughter of the no good rattlesnake who took my sister’s dignity. I’ve sacrificed much for family, but family has had my back all the way, from pickpocketing all the way to the top of the organization.”
“But I don’t want to be a part of that,” she says. 
“You don’t care about your family?” He asks, his fangs glistening.
“No,”
“No?”
“No, I mean I do, I just. I don’t want to be a burden to you, Uncle. I want to forge my own path and let you run your life without me in the way.”
He sighs and pats her on the shoulder. “Baby girl, baby girl…” he says, shaking his head. “I’m sorry I snapped at you, but you know how much I value loyalty. It’s because of your loyalty that you’re able to have this nice apartment and this lovely dress and choose to date whoever you want, but remember, with loyalty, you can have so much more. So, really, consider this offer. Dump whatever street slime you’ve picked up and get a really nice family man. You never know if someone outside of our organization may seek to betray us, especially if they know who you are. You don’t want to be like your mother, corrupted by the honeyed words of a treacherous dog. You know just what happens to those who listen to people like your… sire.”
Arya’s tongue slips out. The tip of her tail twitches as the palpable intensity of the question sinks through to her very core. Nothing seems to be able to break his intense, one-eyed gaze. But the phone rings and she finally breaks away, if only to lead to more intense quiet.
The silence between them continues for agonizing eternities before he finally speaks with a quick “You gonna get that?”
Arya reaches into her purse and checks the phone. It’s Jay.
“Who is it?” her uncle asks.
“It’s… It’s my boyfriend,” she responds and takes a deep breath, sliding her thumb across the screen to the call with a forced. “H-hey!”
“How are ya? You get home okay?” Jay’s soothing voice comes through with the sound of people chattering in the background.
Her uncle picks up his water and gives it a sip, but doesn’t take his eye off of her as she responds. 
“Oh, yeah. Just got in. The trip did me good, you know?”
“Sorry I had to split, but you know how it is. Jack of all trades.” He chuckles. “So, I was wondering about that offer. Think we could talk about it sometime, maybe over dinner or, you know, whatever.”
Arya glances towards her Uncle, who gives her a curt nod. “That sounds great. Uh, how about a dinner? Something to sit down in and just… get used to my skin.”
Her uncle pulls out his phone, typing away.
“Yeah, that could work. Give us some privacy without being too intimate, I suppose,” Jay muses.
Her Uncle shoves the phone in her face. Looking at the screen, she can’t help but shiver. It takes her a moment to gather her courage, to not have her words shake in her throat. “How’s Salvatore’s sound?”
“Didn’t think you someone for Italian,” Jay admits. “But that’s far enough away from the viper’s nest to keep us out of trouble. Sure thing. When we going?”
Arya knows very well that Jay refers to her uncle. She hopes that he doesn’t realize Jay’s intentions in those words. A quick look shows that he coils up, tightening his tail muscles to hold back his explosion of anger. He’s always one to take offense to snake-based puns.
“That little brat,” He hisses in a whisper. “I told you that no good comes from dating outside family. I’d bet he’s after you for some sick fetish fuel. You can really do better!”
She sighs, hoping to have dodged that bullet. But Jay’s voice brings her back into the situation. “Arya? You alright?”
“Oh, uh, just,” she pauses, thinking of an excuse. “Checking my calendar.” She sheepishly smiles at her uncle, who loosens up and mouths the words to her. She repeats those hushed instructions. “Next Friday. 8:00
PM. I’ll meet you there.”
“Sounds good to me. Looking forward to you really being in your element. You deserve to be yourself. See ya.”
With the final farewell, Arya drops her phone onto the floor, the device clattering to the ground. She clenches her stomach, feeling like she could throw up her breakfast.
“Aw, you got some butterflies from this new date, huh?” Her uncle’s words come from behind her, having shifted while she ended the call. His left hand finds its way to her bare shoulder, and she jolts.
“Shh…” he hushes her, tongue flickering by her cheek. “Don’t you worry, baby girl…” he says in a gross parody of comfort. His fingers find their way to her throat, stroking along her scales. Her heart thumps at a breakneck pace, but his touch as his index finger strokes along doesn’t get rough. Instead, he guides his hands back down to her shoulders. “Ooh, you’re all tense. That ain’t good at all. It’s a fortunate thing I was here to help you set that one up, or you’d be left blubbering and making yourself look like a little girl who doesn’t know any better than to listen to that guy. He probably would have taken you somewhere trashy.”
She scrunches up under his touch, not loosening at all. He tisks and returns his hand to her neck, rubbing at her straining muscles. “You’re just a bundle of nerves today. It’s a good thing you got family who would slide off of his pedestal and offer you such a degrading service. I’d never massage a strange woman, just my baby girl.”
His phone vibrates and he pulls away to the front of the room, answering with practiced ease. “Yeah? Oh, he does, does he? Sure. Put him on the car phone. I’m gonna head down there now.”
He looks over his shoulder and shrugs. “Well, sorry about the short visit, baby girl, but it seems like uncle’s got some business to take care of. Seems the data vault’s finally been cracked. All our hard work is finally paying off. I can’t wait to tell you what we’ve found inside.”
Arya’s thoughts pass over to Uma, and then to Jay. Jay just handed the data over to her. He knew she was working for her uncle, yet he gave it away, anyway. All that hard work going to the highest bidder, and Uma will never see a single cent.
Jay did say he would rather sacrifice Uma’s work than Arya’s happiness. Was he willing to also throw Arya under a bus if she proved less profitable?
Arya ponders this as she watches her uncle sitting in his car. He jokes and laughs, his finger stroking the neck of the dedicated car phone, holding onto it much like he had held onto her own throat. Her hand moves to her neck, imagining his finger stroking her in such tender, possessive actions.
He stops talking, perhaps listening intently to what is on the
other side, but after a moment of statuesque silence, he squeezes the phone, the power of his grip snapping the device in two. 
Arya flinches as she watches the broken, useless, chunks drop out of his hand with no more regard from him than if he had swatted a fly.
With just one more word, the car speeds off, squealing as it makes the first turn away.
Arya’s tail gives way and she falls onto her hands, just staring out into the late morning sun. Her whole being plunges into a chill that fills her up. All at once, the dam collapses, and so does she. Arya curls up onto the floor, crying in sickness and in disgust over herself, the anxiety that had been there since she first met Jay finally tipping. An insurmountable challenge has been brought upon her, and she fears, from the deepest pits of her soul, that she will never be able to sleep—not until the course of events she has set for herself have finally ended. It’s not just her life on the line, and she’s losing the game.