The night wasn’t too dark, as the street lamps were all flared to life in the fancy Paris neighborhood. The weather was anything but stormy, instead crystal clear, if a bit humid. Nothing, in fact appeared abnormal, with everyone tucked into their homes and fast asleep, leaving the area seemingly without activity. That was, until something rather unusual made its way into the open and openly slithered down the empty brick road. Some of the zoo-visiting population may have been able to identify the 20-foot long serpent, with dark green scales and lighter segmented underbelly, diamond pattern decorated down its back. A few would even be able to call him by name: Dax the serpent had found his way free of his habitat, and the night was his. Though the zoo’s feedings were passable, the serpent craved live, squirming prey, and as he maneuvered down the road, several particularly-tantalizing scents caught his attention: They all seemed to come from the same luxurious home, and if he was lucky, they too would all be asleep.

Dax made his way up to the home, scanning for any possible openings or means of ingress. It didn’t take long for him to spy an open window, the humid summer night making the butler of the home leave them open from some air. And from the open window poured on the scents of fresh meat that the large snake couldn’t wait to play with. With a mischievous grin played across his scaly lips, Dax worked his way up and into the window, sliding across silky smooth window seating before allowing himself to pour into the house quietly. Once inside, he detected many scents. There seemed to be more feline occupants of this dwelling than human, and that was what Dax was looking for. The less chance of being caught, the better, Dax clinging against the wall and making his way through the wide open spaces of the rich home.

The serpent matched vision to what his tongue had tasted in the air when entering a rather large study. Piled in the corner were mounds of fluffy treats, well-fed and plump from a life of lazy opulence, there laid the cat Duchess, and her three children: Marie, Toulouse, and Berlioz. Their mother was curled around them on the large cat bed, tail blanketing the trio, who in turn were in various sleeping positions. Dax’s stomach grumbled against the floor quietly as he crept closer, winding around the furniture and wondering which one he should start off with first. He eyed over the largest at first, though he would save that main course for later, which left him peeking at the multi-colored kittens one at a time. His head bowed close to the sleeping cats, tongue flitting in and out to sample the air about them. Wanting an appetizer akin to the taste of the mother, Dax decided to skip the males for the moment, and start in on Marie the white kitten, whose languid lazy posture had her leaning just outside of the cat bed. Dax couldn’t help but let a little pent-up drool dribble down his scaly chin and onto the floor, as his snout pressed to the still-sleeping Marie, snout twitching eagerly.

Marie stirred when she felt something wet and cold play against her face. Her eyes blinked blearily, trying to focus in the nigh-darkness, the only real light coming from the outdoor street lamps. When her vision cleared, Marie saw a very scary, very large snake staring her down like a cat would to a mouse, and he greeted her with a lick across her cheek. Panic raced through the kitten’s heart and she opened her mouth to scream, but instead a raspy gasp was produced as Dax laid his bulk over top her, and looped around to squeeze her tightly. “Aacck!” Marie wheezed, slowly extracted from the cat bed and what meager protection she had access to, now encompassed in the cold, unyielding coils of the snake.

“A perfect appetizer,” Dax spoke to the trapped Marie, who shivered in his coils. Her eyes were wide as she rasped and tried to call for help, but Dax made sure to not give her an ounce of oxygen to spare, squeezing around her small, plump body tightly. As he Marie looked back at the rest, and was horrified to see the snake’s body slowly wrapping them all up in coils, held loosely so as to not wake them up. Her head snapped back to the large invading snake, whose maw started to widen before her very eyes! Her mouth hung agape in terror as she was silently guided past drooling lips into the mouth of the hungry snake. Dax drooled more when he felt her chin brush against his tongue, and Marie saw the back of the throat flex open and closed in anticipation of a delicious treat. The serpent’s jaws shut quietly around the soft, malleable kitty’s midsection, trapping her head and front legs in his jaws. He kept a single loop around her lower half, though his crushing maw was more than enough to keep the squirming kitten silent. He looked over her kicking hinds and flicking small tail, to see the others blissfully unaware of what was taking place, and now completely wrapped up in the long, large snake’s coils. He took his time with Marie, consequently, and gummed softly around her body while lapping his tongue all about her. “Mmm…”

Marie was terrified and now blind to all but the pink insides of the serpent’s maw. What little breath she could gather was harshly squeezed out of her each time the jaws compressed. She felt her lower side freed from the coil after a couple minutes of tasting and teasing, feeling other scales press up against her rump to guide her inward. Marie coughed and sputtered with oodles of sticky saliva matting down all the fur of her well-groomed fur coat, and now free from the coils, kicked and flailed as much as she could. Her belly, half-dangled from the jaws, was squished tightly unless those jaws opened in which Marie could catch her breath. What little light she saw only further-terrified her, leaving her witness to the yawning throat beyond, and unless she could get some help, she was snake chow! The kitten got her chance as Dax snuck his tongue under her and lapped up against her rear, matting down the fur there as well. Without any squeezing and when the jaws were parted to usher more of her in. She got out a loud, if raspy, squeal. Dax seemed unperturbed by the sudden noise, though he did squish his mouth closed around to squelch Marie silent, her protests reduced to kicking and flailing her backside.

Dax looked to his other captives, and saw the mother of the kitten he was eating awaken. She struggled some in his coils on instinct, but Dax made sure to trap all her legs among his scales, leaving night but her head and tail visible. The other kittens’ legs were all free, but he didn’t fear their puny bodies or what they could do. Duchess roused faster than Marie, and tried to take a breath but could barely managed. What she saw woke her up instantly: Her daughter’s kicking form, dangling from the jaws of a very dangerous predator, and still sinking inward. “Mmmmfff!” Marie’s muffled shriek made Duchess’ fur stand on end, and she fought and struggled against the unyielding coils with all her strength. But whatever the house cat could muster didn’t hold a candle to the crushing strength and leverage that Dax possessed on the family of cats, and he chuckled at her efforts while blissfully dining on his meal. The other kittens, Berlioz and Toulouse, managed to sleep through the struggles and squeals, kept unaware of their family’s plight for the moment.

Duchess, too, tried to scream, to maybe get their master’s attention. But the best she could form was a muffled “please…” of a whisper, eyes quivering and bulging as coils tightened around her. Dax looked to her, then tilted his head up and away from her. Marie’s squeal, muffled as ever, was louder than before as she felt gravity begin to tug her downward. The heavy snake held the kitten’s soft rump aloft, allowing it to kick and squirm all it could, until after several minutes of fearful protest, they fell limp. Marie was breathing heavily, near-to-tears, but didn’t have the strength to continue. That was the moment Dax seized, deciding it was time to polish off his appetizer. “No… no!” Duchess wheezed, seeing the serpent’s jaws spread wide open before her eyes. Strands of drool that were latched from mouth to Marie snapped, as the kitten’s limp, plump body was tossed down into the open jaws. Dax slowly sealed his lips shut around the entirety of the kitten, cheeks puffed only a bit, as he lowered his head down to face the three remaining cats. His eyes fluttered closed as a scream from within his jaws cut off, replaced with a wet, squelching GLURK, Marie swallowed whole and alive. Her mewling bulging form, small among the large scales, flowed slowly and noisily down the body of the snake. The sounds of scales stretching accommodated the muffled pleas, and Duchess tracked her daughter’s journey down the serpent’s scales with horrified eyes. She snapped out of it only when she heard a slow, deliberate slrrrrp near her ears. “Ahh,” Dax whispered against her cheek. “A perfect start. Now for my main course.” Duchess shivered when Dax pressed the squirming bulge of Marie against her body, and the cat could feel her slowly sink down to a quietly-rumbling snake stomach. “Say goodbye to your offspring.”

“No… don’t eat me,” Duchess stammered, eyes snapping back to Marie, whose bulge slowed to a crawl as her body was messily pressed into the serpent’s belly proper. “A-and please let my daughter go… P-please!” Dax slowly shook his head, instead yawning those jaws of his wider than he did for the comparatively-small kitten before. Duchess’ very whiskers wilted at the sight of her imminent demise, the one that her children were all likely to suffer should she be consumed. “No! No, don’t!” Her begging, louder than before, was what it took for the male kittens to awaken from their heavy slumber. Berlioz peeked up just in time to see Duchess’ head sink into the slimy serpent jaws and bulge out the cheeks. He screamed, which was met with a sudden tightening of the coils around him and Toulouse both. Toulouse, the orange male kitten, gasped and didn’t even get a chance to react, even as Marie’s bulges settled to a stop right where the coils wrapped around him began. The two looked in shock, seeing their mother get devoured before their very eyes.

Dax was right to preserve the largest among their number for his primary meal of the evening. Her flavors were much more mature, not to mention how much more meat she had in comparison to her little morsels. He felt rather than heard the begging pleads from within his jaws, and ignored them entirely. The snake’s maw widened a bit more, only to sink down over the coiled Duchess further, a strong ULRK sounding out in the process. Duchess tail stuck out stiffly when her head and shoulders were devoured, chest compressed into the jaws with her forelimbs strapped to her sides. Dax worked her up his gaping jaws like squeezing out toothpaste, chomping delicately around her full-grown furry form a bit at a time and having to swallow many more times than he had to for his Marie morsel. The kitten herself, meanwhile, was a whimpering mess down in the bowels of the serpent’s gut, with inert acids casually washing over her to prepare her for a lengthy period of digestion. No-one on the outside, or even Duchess, who had a better vantage point, could hear her anymore. Duchess tried to look back up the throat that she was being swallowed down, but it was far too cramped to move. She tried to ignore how much she was being tasted and enjoyed, focusing instead on the coils loosening around her lower body. The cat’s claws emerged, but they could only dig into her own hips at worst, as those claws were all that was left protruding from the snake’s mouth.

Another slow, elongated swallow bugled Dax’s body out more than it had looked in a long time. His neck stretched to capacity as Duchess’ middle was gulped down, leaving her white-furred rear, hindlegs, and long fluffy tail all that remained of her on the outside. Berlioz and Toulouse fought and struggled against the coils at first, but now were just left panting and wheezing, with how tight they became. They could do nothing but watch their own mother get eaten alive before their eyes, her hinds kicking much like Marie’s before, and tail swishing about like mad. The kittens heard the giant serpent’s belly, which was very near to them, gurgle softly, and a muffled mewling emanated after. Digestion was already beginning, and there was nothing any of the cats could do about it. Duchess even heard the far-off rumblings from the stomach and let out an un-ladylike shriek of her own, with her survival on the line.

Though unlike before, Dax didn’t wait for Duchess to tire out. He rested down on the floor, flat, letting his bulging neck and body squish out horizontally. He rested right in between the two surviving kittens, neither one able to see the other. Instead they could only make out the serpent, what was left of Duchess’ rear end, and the puddles of drool squeezing out from around her. Duchess’ legs lay splayed and limp against the carpet, now lacking any leverage to kick or protest. Her tail remained flitting about, however, as a last means of protest against her being eaten alive. Dax, now in an extra comfortable position, slowly slid his body forward with jaws agape. The wideness of those jaws allowed Duchess to slither further down the throat. Toulouse and Berlioz could hear every small swallow leading their mother to the same demise as their sister, as more and more of her disappeared. Dax gleefully schlmp’d his scaly lips down the cat’s butt and let them seal around the tips of her hindpaws and the last several inches of tail. He lifted his head and looked down at the two remaining, terrified kittens. Then the cruel snake slowly slurped in the remnants of the cat, a small splotch of drool squeezing out when the last of the tail vanished behind his lips. The kittens could make out the curved outlines of the cat’s bulges down the snake’s body and neck. Duchess herself felt her legs and tail all gathered up against her rump, which still half-hung out of the throat and was tasted thoroughly one last time.

Then Dax, staring directly at Berlioz and Toulouse, went GLRP, URRRLK, GLOORK! to swallow Duchess whole and alive. Her thick bulges squelched noisily down the elongated snake body, even slower than Marie’s, as he lowered his head and splayed his now-empty jaws wide before the two quivering kittens. “Ahhhhhh, what a feast of felines that ended up being.” Dax slowly licked his lips near the two of them, letting drool and stray white hairs tumble down to the carpet and cat bed alike. Dax gathered the entirety of his 20 foot body about the bed and the two kittens, releasing them from the most squeezing of coils and letting them catch his breaths.

“Marie…”

“M-Momma!”

The two fell silent as the large snake head dangled down between them, each getting stared at with a single eye. Berlioz quivered as Duchess’ wide bulges pressed harshly against him, continuing its journey around the laid-out snake coils between the two kittens. Toulouse too was trying not to cry, feeling those scales press against his face. The two were subjected to playful squeezings, and hearing the fitful starts of digestion of the other two cats, for quite a while. Dax squeezed them roughly, but not to the degree where they’d pass out, or otherwise be unable to experience what he wanted to put the two through, for his amusement.

A grandfather clock chimed on two separate occasions before the patient, playful serpent finally let up on the two, who were a mess of misplaced fur and quivering hiccups of breaths by the time he was done with them. Berlioz and Toulouse, finally freed, fled and hugged against each other, tails curled against themselves and shivering fitfully while keeping their wide, terrified eyes up at Dax.

“Please, Mr. Serpent… j-just… don’t eat us too!”

“Please…”

Dax’s response was to open his jaws wide, over the heads of the two cats. The two knew better than to scream aloud, as that amounted only to more tight coilings. They could only stare up in fright of the yawing maw, the dripping hot drool, the occasional cat hair, with the forked tongue tip playing over the tops of their heads. After a minute of being subjected to this, Dax closed his jaws slightly, but not before letting out a slow, deliberate urrrrp, before licking his lips again. Stale air and a splotch of cat fur landed in front of them, which only made the two kittens grip each other more tightly. They looked shakily at what was now a single mass in the snake’s midsection, with Duchess having caught up to Marie quite a while ago.

“I’d say that was a most filling meal, and I’ve had my fun for the evening,” Dax hissed, not moving his head from the inches above the remaining kittens. Toulouse and Berlioz both nodded in silent agreement. Dax brought the sloshy bulge in his stomach up against the two, and pressed them into it. He smirked at seeing their squirming and terror, though, since there were two left… “I could always use another bite before I depart, however.” The two kittens froze and stared to each other. Berlioz squealed when the serpent’s yawning jaws suddenly snapped down around the entirety of Toulouse’ orange-furred form, down to the floor, in one swift motion. He squealed despite himself and hastily backed away, having felt the wind on his paws, as Toulouse’ own dismayed squeals were muffled by the clenched jaws. Dax purred and ran his tongue all over the feisty kitten’s body, matting down all of his fur in slimy drool.

“No! Help! Don’t eat me!” Toulouse cried from within, but Berlioz just heard the same muffled cries he’d been subjected to for so long now. Without any coils to restrain him he sat rooted to the spot, too traumatized to move. He tracked Dax as the serpent lifted his head up, with a small flicking orange tail sticking out between his pursed lips. Berlioz saw the jaws working around his sibling’s well-fed body, squishing it from one cheek to the other, following every action closely even though he wanted to look away. Toulouse was beside himself with terror, trapped in utter darkness and knowing exactly what fate would befall him should the snake gulp him down. He could barely move, only wriggling his hindquarters as they weren’t yet completely compressed between jaws and tongue, but it did him no good. He flicked his little tail every which way, even after the serpent slurped it up and it was pressed to his own rump.

Dax amused himself for a few minutes with his third meal of the night, but didn’t spend as much time devouring Toulouse as he had with Duchess or even Marie. Berlioz saw his body shifting about all at once, coils threatening to get near to him, which was about the only thing that could snap him out of the morbid sight of seeing the last of his family get eaten alive. He saw the tip of the snake’s tail flit back and forth in delight, while Dax chewed and squished Toulouse about. Though at this point the hour was late, and Dax did not want to be caught here in the morning. So without even looking down at Berlioz, he stretched his jaws out wide and tipped his head towards the ceiling. Toulouse’ orange rump was made visible for only a few seconds, slobber slipping down it and the rest of his matted-down body. He got just enough light to see the throat widen before his face, and managed a fitful cry to not be devoured when his head was thrown down without a thought. Dax gulped with his mouth open, half the kitten devoured instantly as he sealed his jaws closed, cheeks no longer bulging. The snake had a serene smile on his face when he lowered his head down. He blinked as he took a much heavier GLRK to swallow Toulouse completely, and the orange little cat was sent bulging down the snake’s stretched scales like his sister and mother before him, squealing as he went.

Berlioz was a shivering mess, even losing a bit of fur from the trauma, when Dax winked at him. “That’s all for tonight,” he hummed, before slowly slithering away with a gurgling bulge in his middle, and a smaller one slowly squelching to join it. Berlioz watched in silence as the snake left, not even flinching when the snake’s tail brushed under his chin and flicked against his cheek on the way out. Berlioz curled into a fetal position on the bed once the snake was gone, hoping against hope that what had transpired was a nightmare.

*	*	*

Dax awoke two days later, safely in his habitat at the zoo. The best kind of escape, the intelligent creature rationalized, was the one that nobody knew you took. After devouring Marie, Duchess, and Toulouse, Dax had returned to his habitat and spent the next blissful 48 hours slumbering his ingested meals away. The massive bulge the trio created, formed at first but formless soon after, dangled off a tree branch he occupied as they slowly digested down into sloppy mush. The process was long and the serpent was sure to settle in his favorite part of the tree: The one where there were no prying eyes. Dax licked his lips slowly several times during his slumber, and let the cats’ bulges slowly rock back and forth as they were left dangling off the limb of the tree he was wrapped about. After waking up days later, he slowly made his way down the tree, body wrapped about the trunk, soft, smaller middle able to press tightly against it despite his girth. The serpent let himself fall the short rest of the way down, piling on top of himself as he inspected his belly with a satisfied sigh. “100s of others are out there, waiting for me to dine on them all,” he mused, clapping his lips together delightfully. Just the thought of more furry creatures to eat made him drool, as they were much more mouth-watering than the sterilized food the zoo fed him.

He would never need their assistance again.

Dax heard his belly grumble and churn all throughout the morning, and he got a last reminder of his cat meals later that evening. Coiled up on himself with his head resting on the ever-shrinking bulge, he let loose an elongated belch. Smatterings of fur, along with several small bones and what remained of a cat’s skull, decorated the ground of his habitat. What little remained of his meal was now splayed before him, the rest of them completely digested away. Dax smiled at the sights of his reminders, and had a sudden craving. He looked to the skies and saw it was getting late. He’d grown a few inches as a result of his filling meals, and felt he could take on the world at this point.

But first, he had a certain black kitten to go visit. Bite-size as Berlioz is, he had a date with the serpent’s stomach. Dax made his way to his secret escape spot of his habitat, chuckling. “Time for a family reunion.”