Hallows: Pretty Snakes & Devils

Prologue

Of Mice And Men- You're Not Alone

B.B.

Reapers suck.

That's all I have to say on the matter. I say that being a reaper myself. As I stand in the middle of the temple covered in the blood of the three reapers I just murdered, I realize that I don't appreciate being a snake enough. Of that, I am one hundred percent certain.

I lost my head. I've never experienced the level of bitchiness they put me through. I'm not used to the pressure and they pushed and pushed and now here we are. I sit down waiting for the elders to come out and see why the alarms are all blaring. By the time Senior Cervantes comes out of his cottage on the other side of the temple, there's a huge crowd around me.

"Belladonna," he says my name with that extra Colombian drawl. Yet, it's gentle and am I getting a hint of understanding? "Que paso, Chula?"

"I told you not to leave me here with the others," I whisper. I can feel their coldness pulsing inside of me.

"Ya sabes las concequencias, B.B. Ya van tres," he sighs. "You can't stay here anymore,"

"Where am I supposed to go?" I ask. "I still need the training,"

"You can train here but you need to find a place to stay," he clarifies. He makes me miss Victor so f*****g much sometimes. "Or you can go home and come back in the morning,"

He gives me some time to gather my thoughts as he tells the others to get the hell out of here before I decide I'm not done f*****g s**t up. At least that's what his Spanish translates to. It's raining by the time I gather my things. I'm standing inside the circle of runes that protects the temple from outsiders. This place has a strict Hallows-only policy.

I don't make it fifteen feet before I hear the sound of sticks breaking in the distance to my right. I groan because this can't get any f*****g worse. I keep hiking into the thick vegetation of the forest surrounding the temple. What the f**k am I going to do now? I've been here two and a half f*****g weeks and I've already killed three reapers and a bunch of ass heads in the village. Granted they were all f*****g asking for it.

I stop in front of the biggest willow tree I've ever seen in my life. The sound of feet squishing into soft sticky mud catches my attention again and I groan.

"Come on. I am not in the mood for this s**t right now. Can you save it for tomorrow? I'm already upset," I call out. I don't get an answer but I didn't really expect one.

When I don't sense any movement or the essence of anything else, I grip the roots wrapping around the tree and pull myself up.

I've learned a few things in a small amount of time. I love it here. I'm being taught at the level I wish I could be taught everywhere else. These people get it. Anyway, I've recently discovered why Reapers prefer to be indoors and why the temple isn't.

Essence isn't limited to people. It's in every living organism. Including animals and plants. It's why I vibe with crazy violent horses and cats. Because of what I am, I have that extra sense to tap into literally anything I want as long as it's alive. This is what powers my ability to enslave another being. It's called Sway of the King. That's what the Hellian scriptures roughly translate into. Yeah, I've also learned Chance's language here. I wonder what he's going to think about that.

I climb up to the center of the tree and place my hand in the middle. I reach for the essence of the living willow. I close my eyes and think of a dome. The roots and branches all begin to move around rearranging themselves into what I need them to be. The sound of heavy rain coming down bounce off the branches overhead. I was wrong, things can actually get worse. I reach into my duffle bag and pull out my sleeping bag and start setting it up.

Tonight, there won't be any windows or doors. It's late and I'm tired. I'm also really upset because I can't believe I let some i***t reaper bitches get to me. Fernanda, Joclyn, and Margaret were the oldest reapers in the temple. Well, they all are. Way over twenty-five and the three of them acted like f*****g teenage high school Rosas.

I get it, it's not easy to accept being a pureblood and find out that even when you've been groomed to be powerful, there is someone stronger out there and I happen to be the strongest here. It would take the entire temple to f*****g take me down and did they listen? No. They f*****g didn't. I repeatedly asked them to leave me the f**k alone. That I was here to learn and possibly make allies. Most of them are friends but there's always that one b***h that just can't help but destroy herself. The worst part is she dragged others down with her.

Angry tears slide down the sides of my face as I lay here with my arms wrapped around my Rainbow Monkies.

I spend the next week going to the early morning training sessions and the afternoons building myself a place to stay. There's a smell on the forest floor. It's foul. A mixture of sulfur and rotting flesh. It's not very strong which means that whatever it belongs to is skilled at masking its scent. Great. With my luck, it's probably a predator. Whatever it is, it's circling me. Testing the boundaries of what it can get away with all while staying out of sight.

All in all, this has been a great experience for me. I'm trying out things I never really expected to be trying out ever in my life. Like building a treehouse and adding plumbing to it with hollow bamboo and tree vines.

All of my senses are alive out here. I don't have to worry about pleasantries or reigning in Eve. She is in love with our jungle life here. I've not once locked up from the cold. The humidity makes it easy to keep my body going without having to constantly feed.

I like being here more than I care to admit. It's Reaper paradise.

I finish adjusting the bamboo that will be my shower for the remainder of my stay here and stop to listen to the silence around me. In the distance, I hear something that sounds a lot like someone shaking out a tarp or linens. I walk out to the patio and listen. Whatever it is, it's getting closer. I reach for my father's Colt and hold it against my side.

As the sound approaches, I put my gun up hoping that whatever it is, isn't supernatural or that I don't kill it. Just wound it, worst case. Come on universe, do me this little solid. The closer it gets the more nervous I get. I'm sure it's coming right for me and then the sound disappears. I crouch down closing my eyes and removing the safety on my gun.

I crawl inside my treehouse when I hear leaves ruffling around behind the tree I am currently occupying. I look out the opening pretending to be a window on the side I heard it. I spin around when I hear it again behind me. I don't bother moving, instead, I use my new favorite means of transportation.

The name of this ability roughly translates to the Shadow of Death aka teleportation. I set my flashlight down on the table and take the shadows up the top of the tree where I crawl through the tunnels I created to hide myself in case of jaguars. I want to tame one and take it home with me but non-domestic cats are not easy to catch. Especially here where they know death weighs heavily around them. Eve also loves these tunnels.

A shadow slips out from a bush and slowly starts to make its way up the side of my tree. It passes me and I instantly know what it is. It's a wild Stacy Whitmore. I quietly follow her into the house. She pulls off her black facemask and crouches down to pick up my flashlight. She uses it to look around and then screams bloody murder when it lands on me. She falls on her ass and crawls away from me.

"That's what you f*****g get for trying to sneak up on me," I grin.

"B.B. you scared the f*****g life out of me," she screams and bursts into laughter.

"Hey," I greet her offering her my hand. She takes it and lets me pull her up.

"Bro, what the hell are you doing out here? That sexy-ass Reaper teacher told me you got kicked out of the temple dormitories a week and a half ago," she puts her hands on her hips giving me a pointed look.

"Yeah, I killed three ladies," I nod.

"That f*****g reaper lady from Spain, huh?" she sighs. I nod. She looks around and smiles. "Why didn't you just go home?"

"Ro and Vic are at the house. It's also super embarrassing that I got kicked out of summer camp after just two weeks,"

"You made all this?" she asks lifting a chair I made out of the branches of the neighboring tree. "You've gone full Tarzan. Why didn't you come to get me?"

"I didn't want to interrupt your training. You know your butterfly sound is different. Did they grow?"

"No, check this out," she taps my shoulder with too much enthusiasm.

She cranks her neck to the right until it pops. Then she rotates her shoulders and boom two huge black butterfly wings pop out of her back. She laughs as she runs over to the wall and walks up the side and does a cartwheel onto the ceiling.

"These are so cool," I reach for one. She pulls away.

"They're sensitive. So unless you're going to f**k me, no touchy the wings,"

"What do your wings have to do with s*x?"

"Nothing and everything. It just turns me on when they're stroked," she shrugs. I laugh.

"I want to touch them. Not stroke them,"

"They're super soft. You're going to want to stroke them after,"

"I promise to take you to shower at the house and to see Halestorm if I do," I swear.

"That sounds like a lot of work, B. A plane flight back and forth? We'd miss training and I don't want to miss the morning ones,"

"Trust me," I roll my eyes. She looks me over and then nods.

"Okay, just be gentle,"

I wipe my hands on my cargo shorts and reach for them. A squeak comes out of me when my fingertips meet the edges of the wings. The edges are thick. It feels like the cartilage on the tips of my ears. She shutters as I feel more of the edges and move in towards the middle. I've never felt a texture like this. It's soft and velvety while at the same time silky. They're bigger than her body. For the most part, they're leathery shade but there are really pretty shiny designs all over them.

"B.B.," she whimpers when I get to the center where they're protruding out of her back. I press down a little and her breathing quickens. I run my hand over the length of them loving the way they feel and she screams falling on the floor. She was right there was no way I was going to stop at just a touch.

"Are you okay?" I ask when she curls into herself. Her face is flustered and her pupils are completely dilated when she looks up at me. I laugh kneeling in front of her. "Did you just come from that?"

"Shut up. I f*****g told you," she whimpers putting her hands between her legs.

"Here take my hand," I hold my hand out to her.

"I am not riding out this orgasm with your hand in mine," she lets out a little warning screech.

"Stacy, I made you promise," I laugh. She sits up shivering and I can smell it. The scent of her arousal is intoxicating. It smells like the nectar of a really expensive orchid. "You trust me, right?"

"Right now?" she asks. I nod. She sighs and puts her hand in mine.

"Hold your breath and keep your eyes closed,"

"Okay," she nods.

She places her hand in mine and I give into the darkness around us picturing the balcony outside my room. I let go of her hand as soon as we arrive and she goes flying. I push the glass door open. She lands face-first on the bed. Her body swings up so hard that the back of her boot taps the back of her head.

"Stacy," I call out and go over to help her. "Oh, my god. Are you okay?"

"Ow," she groans into my bed. She then stands up and looks around my room. "We're home," she says out of breath, and grips my tank top. "We're home. How? What? Did you do that? You can f*****g teleport? Are you kidding me right now? That is the coolest superpower in the f*****g world. I love you," she wraps her arms around me. "You just get better and better,"

"Me? You have f*****g wings. How cool is that?" I laugh pushing her away from me.

I take the best nap I've ever had after a nice cold shower. She doesn't come back until it's time to head over to the morning training lessons. She has a little satchel with her as well. I take us back. This time picturing the area above the temple. I warn her about it so when we appear over the temple she goes flying again only this time there's nothing for her to hit.

"Thank you," she calls out when I move down to the entrance. I give her a wave.

Lessons are rough and by the time I get back to my tree, I am exhausted. I can tell she is too. The only thing I haven't gotten around to is making a bed. I can decide what I want to do. I was thinking about making it a big ass bird nest because it would be funny. I also think the crows would appreciate it if I ever show it to them.

"We need a bed," Stacy says when she collapses next to me in her own sleeping bag.

"I was thinking bird's nest,"

"Yes, and we can fill it with fluffy pillows," she agrees right away.

"Fluffy pillows? Where would we get them from?"

"A store? An empty store. Nothing would be better if they were stolen," she laughs.

"What store has the number of pillows we need?" I ask putting my hand on the floor. I create a platform for them by the window.

"I don't know. I've never gone to a store that sells room stuff. My mom usually took care of that,"

"Yeah, I've always had someone do that too," I nod. "I also just order s**t online,"

"Oh, that mattress place at the docks," she holds her arm up to look at the two watches she has on her arm. "It should be closed right now,"

"Why do you have two watches on?" I ask.

"I killed some dude that had one and took it," she sits up to show me. "This one has our time and this one has Hellbourne time,"

"Your watch can do both," I say and show her mine.

"Oh," she looks up at me, her cheeks flush again. I am just now noticing she's a little tanned and has a s**t ton of freckles now. Her hair is lighter, and almost metallic shiny. "What?" she asks when she catches me staring. "Do I have something on my face?" she rubs the back of her hands against her cheeks. "B, tell me. It's not funny,"

"You have some cuteness right here," I pinch her cheek. She laughs and swats my hand away.

"God, B. You're such a flirt," she laughs.

"No, I'm not,"

"Yes, you are. You always have been," she rolls her eyes. "Stop looking at me it gives me-" she looks up at me and turns bright red before whispering. "Butterflies,"

"Now who's flirting," I laugh.

"Go do the thing," she waves me off.

I secure the pillows and leave a stack of hundreds I took from the house this morning. She helps me take the plastic off of them and throw them onto the platform. When we're done I shove all the plastic covers onto the rack and I take it back to the store. I get some cute sheets and go back. It's really late when her hand flings out and she slaps the s**t out of me.

"Stacy, if you sleep like a psycho you're getting your own bed," I growl. She makes a weird choking sound. I sit up to see her's suspended in midair. Her arm waving back and forth. I go for the flashlight and hold it up to see a huge green python.

"Holy s**t. Do you know what that is?" I shout crawling up next to it. She slaps around the snake's head. "Right," I place my hand on his head and coax his essence out. "Sorry,"

"It almost crushed me," she cries out when she lands on the huge pile of pillows.

"You are a deep sleeper," I laugh because the way he was wrapped around her would take time and this thing isn't exactly small.

"I hadn't been sleeping well in the temple. Don't trust them hoes," she rubs the back of her neck.

"Hi, baby," I coo when the snake comes closer to me. "You're so pretty. Look at your pretty scales. You are so cute. Stacy, we have to keep him. Go over to the box over there and grab one of the rats,"

"Rats?" she scoots off the bed. "Why do you have rats? You don't eat them, do you? f*****g weird jungle lover,"

"No, they're for Eve. She hoards them so I gave her a place to put them so they're not running around,"

"Just bring it over here and let her-"

"Him," I correct her.

"Sorry," she rolls her eyes. "Let him pick one out,"

"You're right," I agree.

I take the green python off the branch it's rolled around. Eve makes her presence known and comes in through the front door to sniff him out. He's a thick boy. Easily eight feet long which is strange considering adult green pythons roughly grow to be five to six feet. This one is huge and still very young. His skin looks rubbery. The neon green shade under the soft hues of black looks amazing. There is no way I am going to be able to part with this thing when I go home.

"I don't know, B. He almost ate me," she shakes her head.

"He won't attack us anymore," I promise. Eve hisses at him and he hisses back. She looks at me and then arches up to get up on the pillar that goes across the top. She shrinks down to be at his size. "She likes him,"

"That's weird," she laughs and shrugs. "As long as it doesn't do that again. We're good. He almost cracked my ribs,"

"I think he's this big because he's developed a human diet," I say looking it over. "You know from all the carcasses stashed all over this place," I inspect it as it moves along. When he unfurls his tail I see a tag. I go over to it to see it says 002. "It's a lab snake,"

"What?" she comes over to me.

I look over at the snake to see him swallowing a rat while it squirms around. He turns around to look at me when I touch the tag. Before it can curl away I break the tip and take it off him. He pulls himself into a tight coil. He hisses at me when I crawl closer to him. I hold the tag up to show it to him.

"It's gone," I say. "No more," I stroke his head gently. Eve comes down and joins him while Stacy and I go back to bed. "Lab snakes. That is terrible,"

"What about lab rats?"

"It's all terrible but snakes? That's despicable," Carson would agree with me.

"Let's find out where it was being held captive. What if they have more babies trapped?" she yawns.

"We have a day off tomorrow. I'll trace it in the morning," I agree.

"Are you actually going to sleep or are you going to f*****g do it now?" she laughs. I sigh and sit up.

"You're right,"

"Wake me up when you get it. Don't go off on your own. I'll kick you in your sleep next time," she rolls around before she curls into herself.

I go over to the military laptops I stole from a Cartel hideout I came across when I first learned to use Shadow of Death. I figured they wouldn't miss a couple of things from their bunker. There was a lot of equipment. Some of it is American so it was easy to connect with my system. I take apart the tag and start working on seeing where this big boy came from.

It's almost sunrise when I shake her awake. The two of us make our way back toward that Cartel campsite I stole my equipment from and I realize that the reason why there was equipment laying around wasn't because these guys were careless. They're all dead.

"What the f**k?" Stacy looks over at me as we look through the place. I cover my nose and mouth as the stench that's been surrounding me since I left the temple permeates the air around us. "What is that smell?"

"No idea," I say when we reach the end of the bunker.

There's a massive hole in the concrete wall. They had been drilling here. Looking for what is the real question. Eve is at my side as soon as I decide that I am going inside the creepy hole. Stacy holds out my flashlight and holds up her own letting me know she's going to follow.

"Okay, but you have to hold my hand," she whispers. I smile at her and take it when she holds it out nervously.

The cave dives deep into the earth on a steep slope. The floor is slick and I doubt it's with mud. Whatever lives here is slimy. It takes us some time to reach the bottom. Stacy presses her body up against mine when a low screechy sound comes from inside the huge cavern.

I press the bottom button on my flashlight so it turns into a lamp. I toss it up trapping the light particles in bubbles and expand the light only to instantly regret it. I take a step back and reach for Stacy as I slowly pop the bubbles making the light smaller. I hold my hand out pulling the flashlight back to me.

"Back away slowly," I whisper.

"What the hell are those things?" she chitters. I put my finger to my lips and urge her back. When I spin around to leave there's a huge shadow blocking our way out.

"f**k,"

I shake my head putting my fingers to my lips hoping that whoever that is doesn't make a sound but then again the universe doesn't think I'm worthy of it doing me a solid because the figure in the entrance lets out a loud roar. The sound bounces off the walls. For a moment, there is absolute silence, and then high-pitched screeches come from behind us.

"You asshole," I shout taking Stacy's hand in mine.

I rush to the thing standing in front of me and think of my tree. The three of us fall through the darkness and reappear at the bottom of my tree. Stacy and the thing I just saved go flying but unlike Stacy this thing is prepared. It lands on its feet and by the time I realize it's a huge f*****g jaguar. I cry out when its claws swipe across my chest drawing blood.