Hallows: Pretty Snakes & Devils

Devils And Trackers

In This Moment- Bloody Creature Poster Girl

B.B.

I've never had a squad before. Not even when I was cheerleading. The biggest reason why I was in the squad in the first place was because my dad rebuilt most of the school during his senior year. I'm also really good at dancing. My mom made sure of that and I worked hard for it but let's be real even if I hadn't it would have been mine. I had always been surrounded by people who wanted my attention because my father is Dante Blackstone who immortalized his existence when he ended it himself.

This year is already shaping up in a completely different way than the years before. Stacy and Diana have taken over the school media with Lucien and Delilah gone. With them gone, there is nothing standing between my two devils and the boundaries Lucien and Delilah set when it comes to the peace of mind of the faculty. I didn't realize the hold the two of them had on the Devil of Hellbourne until now.

Panic comes over me when Carson walks into my classroom and waves me over to him while I'm in the middle of an experiment.

"Mr. Kennedy, what can I help you with?" Dr. Goldean asks him when I completely ignore him and go back to my beaker. My partner adds it to the one we have over the fire while I watch the red liquid turn clear.

"Good s**t, Blackstone. I didn't think that was going to work," he praises me. His name is Presley Jacobs and he's Diana's cobra.

"Blackstone," Carson calls out. His tone indicates his impatience and my lack of answer speaks volumes of mine.

"Uh, I think Kennedy is here for you, B," Presley puts his hand on my shoulder. I look down and my shoulder and groan.

"Aww, man. You shouldn't have done that," I sigh. I pull Presley behind me just as Carson gets to us. I step in front of him and block his way to the i***t cobra behind me. "Hi, Sweetie. I didn't see you there,"

"You didn't see me there?" he huffs giving me his complete attention.

"I was in the middle of an experiment," I point out.

"Are you done?" he counters.

"Car, I'm in the middle of class. Whatever it is, it can wait until school is over,"

"It can't. Is she done?" he asks Dr. Goldean. He comes over to us without complaint and checks our progress. He looks up at me sympathetically and nods. Carson starts grabbing my things and stuffing them into my backpack.

"Carson, you can't just-" I start to protest but he cuts me off by grabbing my arm and hauling me out of the class.

"Carry on, everyone. Nothing to see here. Justin if I see that on Twitter, I will find you," he calls over his shoulder. Justin is one of Stacy's camera guys. He sets his phone down on the desk and pretends he was working on what's in front of him the entire time.

"Sorry, Justin," I call back. "Car," I pull my arm out of his grip when the door shuts us outside the class. "What the hell are you doing? We talked about this, Sweetie. Boundaries. You can't just show up-"

The asshole cuts me off by pressing his mouth to mine. His arm comes around my waist and he pushes me back until my back is up against the lockers. For a moment, I forget that he just caveman-ed me out of my favorite class and give in to the heat inside of him.

"I can," he pulls away watching me try to catch my breath. It's official. The devils have learned to use their glamour and even with all my training over the summer, I am weak to put up that barrier because it feels sooo f*****g good when they use it on me. "And I'll do it whenever the f**k I want. Got it?"

"Yeah," I clear my throat. Satisfied with my answer he puts my backpack over his shoulder and takes my hand so he can lead me away to wherever the hell we're going. "Do tell, to what do I owe this display of asshole power?"

"It's count f*****g crazy," he says when we get outside. "He bit Asshat,"

I wait until we're in his Camaro and driving away from the school before I ask, "Why?"

"Why what?" he glares at me.

"Why did he bite, San?"

"B.B. who f*****g cares why? He shouldn't have done it in the f*****g first place," he growls.

"Sweetie, Elliot wouldn't bite someone without a good reason. I told the three of you not to f**k with the vampires. What is Ahsan even doing here? He's supposed to be with Lucien and Del in New York,"

"Delilah sent him over. The Jiinns are in the middle of a blood war and they're playing both sides. He came to pick up some extra toys to sell them. Which reminds me. I am going to store the new snipers in the subbasement in the clubhouse. Is that cool?"

"Yes, ask them if they can get me a blood sample from one of the Jiinns. A body part would be a top-tier sample. So, you know while they're killing each other, maybe they can pick a little piece up for me. And it's our subbasement. You can do whatever you want with it as well. Just don't move anything out of place. Some of the chemicals are very dangerous,"

"I'll see what I can do," he laughs.

"What was Ahsan doing at the ranch?"

"He said you told him you were going to meet him there,"

"What? When?"

"You picked him up this morning," he says skeptically.

"No, I f*****g didn't. I've been at school all day. I am working on one of the old prototypes of my AI for the science fair with Dec," I smack him. "Why didn't you go to class today?"

"I had a doctor's appointment. My physical and evaluation with the social worker was today. I told you. f**k," he reaches for the screen on the dashboard.

"I'm fine. I told Vic it was nothing," Ahsan answers.

"Are you sure? Did he attack you or did he mean to feed on you?" I ask.

"Why did you tell B.B.?" he growls. "She just went back to school,"

"She was at school all day," Carson corrects him. "I think we have a changeling in the city and they've tasted B.B.'s blood,"

"That's crazy. How would-" I stop looking over at him. The last time my blood came out of my body was in Rionegro when a f*****g Jaguar almost took my head off while I was distracted by a den of wild Wendigos. "Oh,"

"Oh?" the two of them ask.

"B.B. what the f**k?" Carson growls.

"Valentina Cruz," I nod. "s**t," I pull my phone out and dial Stacy's number. "I knew that was going to come back to bite me in the ass,"

"B, I'm in the middle of the class," Stacy answers without being in the slightest worried she'll get into trouble.

"We have a problem,"

"Sweet, I was hoping you'd say that. D, let's go," she says excitedly.

"Ms. Whitmore-"

"Silencio, old man. The fate of the city is at stake. I don't make the rules. I just enforce them," she cuts off Mr. Jefferson. Carson laughs when my mouth falls open. "What is it, B?"

"Valentina Cruz," I say.

"f**k," she groans. "I f*****g told you to kill her. Even if she turns into a pretty spotted kitty,"

"She's not a shifter. She's a changeling and she's got my blood in her system," I sneak a glance at Carson who looks really upset.

"That's not good. So put out an APB on Belladonna Blackstone?" she asks.

"Yes," the two of us say at the same time. "I am going to pull back. If I'm not with one of the guys, it's not me,"

"What if she's with one of the guys?" she whispers.

"Find her. I want as many wolves as you can put on this," I sigh.

"Yes, sir," she agrees and hangs up.

"I-uh," San clears his throat.

A cold flash floods my body. The black mamba tattoo on my back slithers when Eve shows her absolute displeasure. I shudder feeling her snake around me tightly.

"Eve," I groan gripping the edge of Carson's leather seat. "Eve, stop,"

"Eve," Carson growls but she's f*****g pissed. "Eve, stop it," he shouts and hits the brakes. My rib pops when she tightens around. I cry out when Carson pulls me out of the car and starts trying to pull her off me. "Eve, you're going to crush her,"

"Remy," I cry out. She materializes next to us and pulls her right off. I gasp wrapping my arms around my body.

"Why is she angry?" she asks.

"The changeling is here," I pant and cry out again when my rip pops back into place. "You said she wasn't going to be a problem,"

"Yes, well my expert fibbing comes from you," if she had eyes I swear she'd be rolling them right now. I look up at her with a glare. "I've got her. Hunt the thing,"

"Remy," I shout but she disappears and takes Eve with her.

"Baby?" Carson crouches down in front of me. "Tell me what's going on,"

"It's personal," I let him help me up. "Tell the others. I'll drive,"

"Oh, really?" he smirks. "Just like that?"

"Yes," I smile at him and get in the driver's seat. I adjust it and head back to the house. I can still feel Eve trying to crush me.

Changelings are dangerous. I've kind of been obsessed with them since coming back. Not only can they turn into whoever they want after a taste of their blood, but some are powerful enough to mimic that person's abilities and this particular shifter is really upset with me for killing her mate. The f*****g asshole had it coming. He went after Stacy and tore up one of her wings. I got her to Halestorm before any permanent damage was done. I told him to f**k off but he didn't listen and now here we are.

"Are you okay?" Carson asks when I don't open the car door right away.

"We have to be really careful," I nod.

"Your nervousness is making me nervous," he puts his hand over mine. "Tell me what happened,"

"I killed her mate," I say and push the door open. "She had tasted Stacy's blood and she disappeared in a swarm. Rem swore she wouldn't be a problem so I let her go,"

"B-"

"I know," I growl. "I should have gone after her but I had just killed her mate. I don't-" I pause when he comes around pulling me into him. "I killed him. Granted I had warned them both. We were working together to figure out how a big-ass hoard of Wendigos ended up in Columbia. He went after Stacy. I warned him and he wouldn't f*****g stop so I put him down,"

"Why did he go after her?"

"Shane,"

"Shane was with you guys?"

"No, he marked her and Jose thought she was a weretiger. There's some kind of bad blood between them. Kind of like Vampires and werewolves or Hallows and humans. It's just in their nature. I don't know. He almost ripped her wing off,"

"Okay," he cups my face. "Tell me what we need to know,"

"Let's wait for the others to get here. I don't want to take any chances. If she touches one of the crows, Rem isn't going to just threaten me. She'll inflict real damage,"

"I think now that we know, it won't be as easy to fool us," he caresses my cheeks with thumbs.

"It's not that simple. She's literally me. The smell, the sound of my voice, she might even have some of my abilities. It'll be harder for her to identify all of you guys because you weren't in my system when I fought her off the first time but if she got a taste of Ahsan's essence, we're all in there with him,"

"f**k, is she connected to us now?"

"No, she didn't feed on him. She just tasted him," the words are sour on my tongue.

The cold rush from before floods through me. Before my training it would have overwhelmed me and Carson's car would be history by now. After my first ovulation period, it became clear that I have a pretty good grasp on my power already.

"B.B.," Ahsan and Vic arrive followed by Dec and Ro. The look on Ahsan's face is of complete fear.

"Hey," I shake off the cold feeling in my chest. "Are you okay? What did she do to you?"

"Nothing. We just-" he clears his throat. "I thought she was you. We made out in the car and I promised to meet her later. You, I thought she was you. She even pulled at my essence the same way you do,"

"Jesus," Ro growls shaking his head. "What are we dealing with?"

"A changeling," I answer looking past the front gate. "Did she get any blood?"

"Blood?" Vic looks Ahsan over. He lifts his hand to his lip.

"s**t," I pull my phone out and call Stacy.

"We're on the move already," she answers right away.

"She has Ahsan's blood. She bit him. It's not enough to get any of his abilities but enough to take his shape,"

"Where is the real Ahsan?"

"With me," I look him over.

"B, make sure it's him," she says and hangs up. I look up at Ahsan.

"What?" he asks taking a step back. Ro and Vic grab him. "Lucien is going to f*****g kill me for this,"

"Let's get inside," I say.

The guys take him into the house. James and Brandon watch us take Ahsan into my lab. I take my scanner and wave it over his forearm. When the scanner turns green I look up and find them all staring at me.

"What the f**k is that?" Ahsan demands.

"A tracker," I answer. They all put their hand on their forearm. "Not all of you have it in the same place," I scan all of them to find they're all who they say they are. "Before you get mad, I would like to remind you that it's serving its purpose,"

"B.B., what the f**k?" Ahsan growls grabbing a fistful of my hair. None of the others protest. I growl at him and shove him away from me but he doesn't let me go.

"You tagged us? When?" Dec demands.

"Our last group therapy sessions," I answer. My three devils all growl at me angrily. I stagger forward when Ahsan releases me.

"B.B. that's a breach of the f*****g contract," Carson steps forward.

"A really big breach," Ro agrees. "But right now isn't the time to get upset. There's something out there walking around with San's and B.B.'s faces. That alone is very dangerous. What are we dealing with?"

"How much of your blood does she have?" Carson demands angrily.

"A lot," I answer knowing I'm only digging my grave a little deeper but there is no use in lying now. They all look up at me. "What? I didn't even know they were a thing and I had to fight the two of them on my own. Stacy was bleeding out everywhere and I was low on essence. We had just taken out a huge hoard of f*****g Wendigos. They slashed me up pretty badly and I had to jump a big f*****g distance to get her to Halestorm. It all happened really fast,"

"B, you're usually the one that's trying to befriend the f*****g world. This is so unlike you," Vic shakes his head.

"Yeah, well they didn't want to be friends. Not everyone has a good sense of fear. This thing clearly doesn't. She's walking around our city with my f*****g face, touching my things, and doing Lucien knows what,"

"f**k," Dec rubs the back of his neck. "I'll call my dad and ask him if he knows how to hunt one of these things,"

"Vic, you guys get your birds out there. Help the wolves. None of you leave this house," Carson orders. "Meanwhile, I'd like to f*****g know what you were thinking when you put a f*****g tracker in all of us while we were-" he pauses looking me over. "-Preoccupied,"

"Hello," I growl making them all look at me. "You're mine. I was leaving. None of us stayed here except for Victor. I wasn't going to just walk away without a way of getting you back to me should something happen. You're all f*****g crime lords and Lucien runs the biggest danger of you all. Fan girls are f*****g insane,"

"You broke the rules," he shouts. "You ask,"

"Did you ask when you put a tracker in my earrings?" I point at them. "Did Ahsan ask when he put one in my bracelet or Vic in my necklace? No, none of you f*****g asked so I think we're pretty even,"

"It's not the same as sticking one under our skin," Dec argues. "What if it would have come up in customs? Either one of us would have been in deep s**t if we were caught with this s**t inside of us,"

"It's undetectable," I shrug. "It's not ever going to come up on any scanner other than this one," I point at my scanner. "I would never put any of you in danger,"

"We have a f*****g changeling on our asses right now," he points out.

"That wasn't-" I pause because yes it is my fault Valentina is here. "I didn't go out there looking for this thing to put us all in danger like this. I f****d up in letting her go. That's on me. But I didn't f**k up in putting these things on all of us. Even the stone has them,"

"Mamita, why didn't you just ask?" Vic asks calmly.

"Because if I would have asked, the devils would have said no. Asking you guys to lie for me would be so much worse than this and I rather you all be mad at me than mad at each other. I accept the consequences,"

"Two months," Carson says. My stomach drops nearly falling out of my ass. Two months? Because being away from him and the others all summer wasn't enough torture? "Tell me how to take this out, now,"

"No," I shake my head.

"B.B.," he growls.

"I'm not going to let you take it out, Carson. It's already there,"

"Take the f*****g tracker out, Belladonna," he shouts.

"No," I shake my head.

"I will rip the skin off my shoulder in front of you if you don't take it out, right now," he slams his hands against the table.

"That's your choice," I shrug.

"B.B.," Ahsan sighs. "Princess, he doesn't want it,"

"I don't care," I cross my arms over my chest. "I'm not taking it off, Carson. Not from you and not from anyone else. You're mine and I want to know where you are at all times. It shouldn't be a problem if you have nothing to hide,"

"You're not going to turn this on me, you f*****g psycho. You put this thing on me and I want it off," he shouts.

"We both know I hate to disappoint you, Sweetie but you're not getting what you want this time. Call Lucien, have your fit, but it's not coming off. Learn to live with it for the rest of your life. Take as much time away from me as you need. I'm not taking them off. You're not the only one obsessed,"