Hallows: The Golden Viper

I Can't Fix That For You

Pierce The Veil- Southern Constellations + The Both Who Could Fly

B.B.

I can't move and I've been sitting in Dec's garage for the past two hours while he works on something in his car. The movement in my toes is starting to return and it hurts. Uh, maybe it's not pain but it might as well be. Any movement triggers a high static-like buzzing along the left side of my body where stupid Eve bit me.

He took his shirts off earlier and is just switching out something with his bare hands. It's not hot enough to get him all sweaty but I have to admit that I'm a little into this. Why haven't we done this sooner?

"I'm hungry," I finally break the silence. He looks back at me and nods.

"Give me a minute, Lil Mama. I'm almost done,"

"Sure," I sigh.

"How are you feeling?"

"Tingly," I groan. He smirks and turns back to the engine.

"Why did she bite you?" he asks.

"Because she's insane," I huff. "She's very possessive. She gets mad when I don't give her, her way,"

"Does that happen a lot?"

"Only when someone f***s with her Devils," I reach for the spot where she bit me. It doesn't hurt anymore and I can't feel the wounds. I lean forward and start moving around to help the rest of the venom pass through.

"B.B.," he comes over to me and stops me from pacing his garage.

"I've been sitting here for two hours and now you want to talk?"

"I didn't want to have this conversation while you couldn't move. I know you like to walk away when you're angry," he shrugs. My stomach somersaults. What the f**k is that supposed to mean?

"Why would I be angry?" I ask already feeling angry.

"You're already angry," he sighs.

"Yeah, because I wanted to go home and you said no and I've been here waiting for you to say something,"

"Why didn't you say anything?" he shrugs looking me over before he moves back to his car.

"I'm not the one that has a problem with me,"

"You think I have a problem with you?" he turns around to face me again.

"Isn't that why you're breaking up with me?" I ask.

"I never said I was breaking up with you,"

"You never said you weren't. You're just ghosting me or trying to,"

"I am not ghosting you, B.B.,"

"Then what the f**k are you doing? You say you don't have a problem with me but you're going out of your way to not see me. You say you're not breaking up with me but you're not saying you're not. The last time we hung out together was dinner with the guys. We are two days away from clearing each other from our systems. Two days. Thirty-nine hours. If you want to talk, talk to me. I'm standing right here. Tell me what's wrong. What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything, B," he sighs and goes over to the tool table so he can clean his hands. "That's a f*****g lie," he groans. "You do everything," he turns around to face me as he rubs oil on his fingertips to get the black grease stains off. "From the moment I met you. You've been doing s**t for me that I can't even begin to f*****g repay you for.

"It doesn't make sense to me. I'm f*****g nobody, baby. Why the f**k are you going out of your way for me like this? The others don't like it. I don't like it. I don't need you to be taking care of me. I don't know what your f*****g motive is and it makes me f*****g nervous," he's panting heavily as he wipes the blackened oil with a rag. "And it makes sense now," he tries to calm himself. "It's the f*****g snake,"

"Dec," I push off the table I'm leaning against. Tears stream down my face. "Is that really what you think of me?"

"This is why I didn't want to talk to you about it because I f*****g hate it when you cry," he turns away.

"I'm going home," I start to walk towards the garage door. He grabs my arm.

"You're not walking home,"

"Dec, I'm not with you just because of Eve. I mean, sure. It started out that way. The only person that didn't start out that way was Lucien. I've known him my whole life and even then, I question why he'd want to be with me. I can't even begin to describe how hard it is knowing that Carson's Devil has my face. Or Ahsan's need to dominate me when we're alone.

"Maybe this is a foreign concept to you and I understand, but I love you. You're quirky and you've got these cute choir boy vibes but I know the rage inside of you. It's the most familiar one from all of them. That sense of betrayal and f*****g self-imposed solitude," I feel my throat get tight. "You don't want to get sucked in because you don't want to lose anything. You don't have to give anything value so save yourself more of that emptiness. I'm not going to beg you to stay, Dec. I'm not going to ask you to love me. Maybe you're not even there yet.

"I go out of my way to do things for you because I know what's like to be alone. To have to take care of myself even when I don't want to. I don't want you to feel like that anymore. I want you to see that I'm here. I will continue to be here even if we're not together because if I can't have you like this, at the very least, we can be friends," I pull my arm out of his grasp. "Do whatever you think is best for you.

"All I ask is that don't treat me like I meant nothing. Don't make me feel like I mean nothing to you because I can't deal with that. I deserve better. I'm Merciful f*****g Death. Everyone wants my attention and here you are making me question my value,"

"What about my value?" he shrugs. "What if I'm not worth Merciful Death's love?"

"You don't get to decide that. You decide if I'm worthy of you. That's what you have to ask yourself. Am I Belladonna Blackstone worthy of Decarious Jermaine Adams? That's the only question you need to concern yourself with. Nothing else matters,"

"Except it does, B.B. All of it matters. What do I even bring to the table? You got Carson f*****g Hayashi and Lucien Daniels eating out of the palm of your hand. Ro, Vic, San. These guys are big-time. They're running around making hundred-million-dollar moves for you,"

"None of that is for me," I shout. "None of that s**t is for me. What the f**k do I even know about their business? Nothing. Yeah, they are big-time," I air quote. "But what the f**k does that have to do with me? Absolutely nothing. You're sixteen years old. Your entire life revolves around your dad. These guys have been on their own since they were kids. That's why they're out of control the way they are. You can't compare your successes to theirs. Your upbringings are way different,"

"Except that I am," he shoves his hands in his pockets.

"So, that's the problem? You don't think you're worth my time?" I ask. He doesn't look up at me. "I can't fix that for you, Dec. I can't convince you of that any more than I can convince myself that I should exist. You either accept it for what it is and try to be worth what's in front of you or give it up," I step into him and make him look at me. "This is not how I wanted to tell you that I love you," I caress his cheek. "It feels like I'm saying it because I'm never going to see you again. And that scares me more than the girl on the chandelier and she hangs there at night crying out for me to save her,"

"Please, don't go," he calls after me when I make it passed his car.

The sound of his voice feels like I just took a deep breath of glass dust. I stop and look back at him. His phone starts to ring and I take the interruption to turn away and wipe my face. I take a deep breath and try to calm myself. When I look up, I see the black Toyota Camry turn into the street. The back windows roll down and a man in a black ski mask leans out of it.

"Get down!" the lady next door screams but it's too late. He fires the gun in his hands and I feel the stinging pain pierce through my body repeatedly.

"Baby," I hear Dec shout, and then the sound of more gunfire. The car swerves and hits the neighbor's pink beetle. His arms are around me before I hit the floor. "B.B., look at me, Lil Mama. Carson, B.B.'s been shot," he screams. "Car, call the f*****g ambulance!"

"It hurts," I choke feeling my body starting to tremble. Blood floods into my mouth. Suddenly, I'm struggling to breathe.

"You're okay, baby. Try to stay calm," he lays me down gently. I see the car doors open.

"Behind you," I cough.

His eyes turn pitch black as he turns away from me. A low grumbling sound vibrates in his chest and he disappears. I try to remain still. To take slow even breaths so I don't drown in my own blood and I can hear screaming and growling. The sound of absolute chaos. Tearing flesh, gunfire, and the sound of the devil giving into his nature. It all starts to fade into the combination of pain and what's left of Eve's venom.

"Baby," when I open my eyes again, Lucien is at my side. "f**k, B.B.," he's crying. "We have to get her to the house,"

"f**k, f**k, f**k," I think that's Carson. "Take her, Lu. f*****g take her. I have to calm him down. San, help me pin this motherfucker. He's not going to stop,"

"Car, people can die,"

"I don't give a f**k about the f*****g people, Ahsan! B.B. got f*****g shot and Dec is out of his f*****g mind. f**k them!"

"Carson, calm down," someone shouts.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," I cry when someone moves me. My insides feel like they're exploding. "It hurts me. Stop, stop,"

"Baby, I gotta get you to the car," Lucien cries.

"Stop moving. Stop moving," I beg him. A scream comes out of me when I'm pulled upward by my shoulders.

"Hey, hey," a warm hand cups my cheek. "You're okay, baby. You're okay,"

"Mom," I cry out reaching for her.

"Yeah," she takes my hand.

"Take them out. They're burning me," I reach for my stomach.

"Don't touch them," she grips my hand.

"They're burning me," I scream feeling the heat around the metal inside of me.

"s**t, I think there's something in them," I hear David's voice.

"David, help me. They burn. Take them out," I try to get out of my mom's hold.

"They're smoking. It's holy silver," he whispers. "s**t. I have to get them out of her,"

"Can't it wait until we get to the house?" Mom asks panicking.

"No, it can f**k up her organs if I leave them in there that long. Take off your sweater and have her bite down on them,"

"Oh, baby. I don't if I can see that,"

"Mom, please. Please. It's hurting me," I squeeze her hands. She moves around. My vision is blurring.

"Okay, B.B. sweetheart. Bite down on this. This is going to hurt a lot," David puts my mom's sweater in my mouth and I bite down on it.

I feel his fingers dig into my stomach and I clamp down on the sweater hard. I scream as my body tries to twist away from the stabbing pain. The deeper he goes the more it hurts.

"f**k," I hear some shout angrily.

"I got one, baby girl. Two more to go. You're doing great," David moves to the next one. My teeth cut through the material and I finally break out of my mom's hold. I sit up and spit the piece of her sweater and shove him away. "B.B.,"

I reach into my stomach and pull the second bullet out with a scream. The last one is lodged between my ribs. I can't reach it from the angle it went into me.

"B.B. no," my mom tries to pull my hands away but it needs to come out. I scratch at my skin tearing into my flesh until I get to it. I hold it up to see that it's smoking. The silver stings against my skin like a hot iron. I can finally breathe again.

"What a f*****g asshole," I laugh dropping it. "I should have torn her f*****g tonsils out," I look down at the blood gushing out of my stomach as the edges of my vision start to darken again. "He can't die now,"

"Holy s**t," Lucien's voice is laced with fear. "James! Dante! Help me!"

"Don't kill him," I reach for Lucien. I cry out when they move me again.

"What the f**k?" I hear my dad panic.

"Lucien, tell them not to kill him,"

"I'm going to kill him, B.B. I going to f*****g rip him apart," he shouts.

"Shh," I reach out and I think he's the one that takes my hand. "No, no. Promise."

"Baby," he puts my hand against his face. "I can't,"

"Promise or I won't come back," I scream.

"Don't f*****g say that to me, Belladonna. This isn't a f*****g joke," he growls.

"Promise-"

A burst of blood cuts my breathing. My body tightens up, a sharp ringing echoes in my ears and I can't breathe anymore. All I can think is, I just got shot. The black spots in my vision flicker around getting bigger and bigger. I can't imagine what Dec is feeling right now. This is going to f**k him up. The last thing I wanted to add was something like this to his problems. f*****g Eastsiders are sensitive as hell. Well, so am I. This isn't going to end like this. Forget the B.B. It's time to use the Carter-Kennedy Solution.