Hallows: The Golden Viper

I Love You, Is That Enough?

Blue October- I Hope You're Happy

B.B.

When we arrive home, I am immediately escorted to my room by Stacy and Natalie. They don't say a word when Natalie shoves me into my room and shuts the door. I laugh when my gaze lands on the bed where there's a tower of gifts waiting there for me. The boxes are a pretty powder pink wrapped with silky gray ribbons. I take the card sitting at the top.

I'll come get you in a couple of hours. -Lucien

I can't fight the grin on my face as I pull the ribbon apart and take the top box. It's a set of tiny hoop earrings and a necklace that matches the bracelet Ahsan gave me. The second box is a pair of silver Jimmy Choo sandals. And in the biggest box is the lavender dress from Versace's Atelier Spring-Summer collection I've been obsessed with this week. Under it is another stack of smaller gift boxes. The smallest one has a pair of silver earrings. At the end of the little silver, chains are amethyst hearts. I set them down and open the second box. Inside is a matching silver cuff made with the same little purple hearts.

"I'm scared to open the big one," I whisper and reach for it. I open it and laugh. I lift the huge heart gem surrounded by diamonds.

"Holy s**t," Delilah says coming up behind me. "He really likes not being in the doghouse,"

"This wasn't Carson," I shake my head. "The dress and shoes were. This was Lucien,"

"Go shower. I'll help you get ready," she gives me a little shove.

"Thanks," I nod.

Delilah is playing Bad Bunny when I come out of the shower. She's wearing black high-waisted skinny jeans with a fitted long sleeve Fallen crop top. No bra as usual. Her hair is up in a messy bun. No makeup, glasses, and regular black piercings. She's humming, dancing to the song moving her hips from side to side as she rolls a blunt at my vanity. I can't help the warm feeling that comes over me to see her like this. This is how I remember her from before. I find relief to see that there's still a little of my sister in there.

"Didn't you wash your hair before you left today?" she asks when going into my closet.

"I got upset today and I had glass dust in my hair," I answer.

I slip into a robe and a pair of Lucien's Evil Bunny slippers. He made them for the segment s**t My Girlfriend Says. Delilah or Natalie wear them and read the quotes. They sit at my dad's desk and only her legs with the slippers resting on top of the desk are shown. They come in black, white, and of course, pink. I have them all but the pink ones are obviously my favorite.

"I heard. With Mom, right?" she takes my hair dryer out from the lower vanity drawers.

"No, I just told Lucien that because I don't want him to do anything stupid. He already hates Mom anyway," I sit down at my vanity bench and start to prepare my hair to be blow-dried.

"The Ro and San thing?" she asks. I nod, running the foam through my hair. "I don't think tonight is going to end well then,"

"Well," I shrug disagreeing. "I can be very persuasive,"

"But you don't like it," she takes my brush and runs it through my hair a few times before taking the small round brush from the top basket hung next to the mirror. We let those words sit between us as she dries my hair for me while I moisturize and prep for makeup.

"Mom gave me some advice earlier," I say when she gathers my curls and twists them until she forms a bun at the top of my head and clips it to keep my hair out of my face. "I think I'm going to take it,"

"Mom?" I see her grin through the mirror. "What did she say?"

"I said, you're a succubus. You might as well enjoy it," she says from the door. She slips inside and shuts the door behind her. "I heard you say Mom while I was walking by and I came in. I can go,"

"It's okay," I shake my head.

"Holy s**t," she laughs going over to the bed and holding up the necklace Lucien got me. "What the f**k did Carson do?"

"The clothes and shoes are from Carson. Vic got me the smaller ones. That's from Lucien," I explain but she has a point. What did they do?

"Oh," she sings and nods. "Definitely Lily's son. Wow, look at this dress,"

"Right? It goes perfectly with your hair," Delilah smiles.

"Are you going to dye your hair?" Mom asks her.

"I'm thinking about going gray," Delilah nods. "Not a soft silver one, like a dark gray. Crazy cat lady gray,"

"Why?" Mom shakes her head.

"Just to try it out. It's between that and golden blonde so I can match with Mun,"

"Who is Mun?"

"My snake. It's short for Jormungand,"

"Like the sea serpent?" she grins.

"Exactly," she nods. "I'm glad that didn't go over your head like the Sundae Morning thing,"

"B.B. turn around and lean back so we can do your makeup," Mom waves at me.

"Yes," Delilah agrees. I get up and slide my makeup drawer out.

"Your skin looks so good," Mom compliments.

"What the f**k?" Delilah walks up to the drawer as I raise my gaming chair up as high as it goes and take a seat. "When did you add this drawer?" she laughs. It's the size of the tabletop and perfectly organized thanks to Victor and Ro who were in here with me Thursday night. I didn't mind skipping girl's night in the slightest. "I need one,"

"That's always been there," Mom says. "She used to put her Tiny Bratz and hot wheels in there," she grins. "Before that, it was the pretty rocks Lucien would bring her,"

"Mom," I growl feeling my face heat up. They both laugh.

"What did you do with them?" she presses.

"You don't have them still, do you?" Delilah laughs. I cover my face with both my hands. "Holy s**t. Where are they?"

"I hate you both," I groan and go over to the bed.

I raise the mattress and open the hidden compartment at the foot of the bed. In there are all the pretty rocks Lucien gave me when we were kids. He would give me one every single morning when I started kindergarten. I hated it and he would give me one every morning so I knew he was there with me. The last time he gave me one was when I started second grade and met Shane. He took it. Lucien thought I gave it to him. Dad and I broke into his house that same night and took it back. Neither of them knows. No one knows I keep the pink and white crystal in my pocket to this day. It was the very last one he ever gave me. They both look at all the pretty colors and then up at me. I smack Delilah's hand when she reaches for one. I shut it and drop the mattress.

"That is the cutest thing in the f*****g world," Mom shakes her head and waves me back to the chair. "Lily is going to love that story. Do you have any of Carson?"

"Carson sneaks in here and presses daisies into my favorite books," I take my Frankenstein first edition Mom got me when I turned fifteen. She had it mailed to me with a card that said, I Love You. I open it and flip the pages showing them the dry flowers inside of it. "All of them, since fourth grade,"

"Ugh," Delilah rolls her eyes when Mom puts her hand on her chest and coos. "f*****g simps,"

"Straight hating," I laugh.

"In the chair, Princess," Mom laughs.

"You're not going to let that go, are you?" I roll my eyes.

"Let what go?"

"Calliste made fun of her so she rich girl bitched him out. Told him she was a princess and then made him kiss her hand,"

"You didn't," she laughs. "Did he?"

"Yeah, he did," I nod.

"That was that power boost earlier," she nods. "Damn, you got him so good. It's been a while since I've felt a good god complex like that,"

"It's my first time," I say. "And yeah, it was that good. Eve was very present around Diana,"

"Diana?"

"Calliste. The sleepy girl in your English class,"

"Oh, the ballerina," she nods.

"She's a Devil,"

"Shut the f**k up," she laughs. "Oh," she looks away with a small smile pulling at her lips. "That's what that was,"

"Did you sleep with her?" Mom asks as she dabs my face with a makeup sponge.

"Yeah, recently. The night after Holly actually. For a week straight. I was obsessed but then Damian happened and I sort of forgot about her,"

"Did she get that from Dad?" I ask.

"No," Mom laughs.

"Mom," Delilah bumps her playfully.

"What?" she shrugs. "Girls are so soft and pretty. I corrupted your father into that, not that it was very hard. He remembers every girl he hurt. Every girl we hurt. He hated it. I did too but it was fun at first. Feeling how strong he got after feeding. He changed my entire life. Made it better. Made me better. One of us had to be the bigger asshole,"

I look up at my sister who is looking down at the eyeshadows in the drawer. There's a little smile on her lips. Yeah, okay. I can be nice to Mom for her sake. For both of ours because I'm having just as much fun as they are. We haven't been in the same room like this since I was a Freshman and the Pom-pom Squad was my life.

"You never really say anything about Ash," I say. Mom glances back at her. She grins and shakes her head.

"Okay, but promise no judging," she points at me.

"Like I have room to judge," I roll my eyes.

"Okay," she picks a couple of soft colors and brings them over to us. "I don't- I'm not controlling anymore because of him. I used to drive myself insane with everything. I swear I would overthink every little detail. I would wake up with a f*****g knot in my belly and my heart racing every f*****g day.

"I remember just being wound up tightly all the time. No amount of pills, weed, or liquor would make that s**t stop. No amount of hunting or killing. It was just a moment of peace but it never lasted," she sighs. "In those little moments, I'd write what it was like to finally have a little silence.

"Anyway, it was no different when I was in purgatory. At first, he liked how organized I was. How I studied everything and found the patterns. But after a few decades, the demons got smarter. They knew what I looked for and he wanted to change strategies and I f*****g couldn't. I'd always end up dead at the starting line. We were losing ground and he was f*****g livid. He threw me into the pit for twenty years,"

"What's the pit?" I ask. The way she talks about her time in Purgatory is the same way old people talk about their youth.

"It's where they store the feral souls that are irredeemable," Mom says. "My first task to becoming Conquest was to take Lily out from there," she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "They just tear each other up. Like a dark soul Thunderdome in a loop. Those who make it out become first-rank demons. They serve the noble Hallow Stones of hell. She was thrown in there and when it was time to come out, she refused. She was down there for three thousand Hellian years. She was accepted as a Demon Dutchess when I got her out. Crazy f*****g b***h,"

"You had to do tasks?" I ask.

"Yes, but let your sister continue," she smiles.

"We'll definitely revisit that," Delilah laughs. "So, yeah. Twenty years. I killed him for a week straight coming out of it," she grins. "Would have kept going if you know it wasn't purgatory. But honestly, I felt free after. Being in that constant state of fight was liberating. I slept like a baby the first time I laid my head to rest. Maybe it was also you know the first we did the thing,"

"The thing?" I laugh. Mom rolls her eyes.

"I'm having trouble adjusting here because everyone expects me to slip right back into my role. I am so f*****g excited for Summer. I'm taking Ash to Death Valley for tanning," we all laugh.

"You miss being in Hell?" I ask.

"Yes and no. I mean everything I built with Ash is there. We have a collection of wedding fingers from married couples we tortured," I laugh when Mom's eyes grow wide. "I recreated our house there. Not all of it but most of it and he filled it with things he thought I deserved. None of it makes sense and nothing goes together but it was chaotic and perfect. I didn't have to fight my nature. I didn't have to pretend to be human. None of this s**t mattered.

"When we started hunting again, he put a collar around my neck sealed with the mark of the beast. He can't directly put it on my skin down there because I bare the mark of Anarchy," she pulls her sleeve up to show us the new tattoo where she had Terra's name before. There is the mark of the beast. The three sixes form a Triskelion. It's adorned with beautiful black and red Delilahs. "Archdemons only do that in ownership,"

"Ownership?" I ask remembering when she told Damian it was better to be owned.

"It's something the higher demons do to souls they claim as their own. Kind of like a wedding ring. A lot of them have many, but Del is Ashmedai's first and only. Lily explained that to me when Anthony put his collar on her as soon as I brought her out so that she wouldn't go back into the pit," Mom explains. "Asshole didn't even ask,"

"So, quests for Conquest. What else did you do?" Del asks. Mom looks down at me and shrugs.

"Three quests, three kills, and three sacrifices," she says.

"What? Seriously? What would you sacrifice in death?" I ask.

"Things valuable here," she taps her chest. "Nothing too hard,"

"What were they?" Delilah asks.

"I don't want to ruin the mood," she shakes her head.

"Mom," I put my hand on her wrist when she tries to apply highlighter to my nose.

"Uh, the first was my father's necklace," she says. "Then the pick I stole from your father when I realized I had a crush on him,"

"What was the last thing?" I ask when she tickles my nose with the highlighter brush. Her eyes stay on mine.

"The piano," she whispers and my stomach drops.

"The piano here?" Delilah asks.

"But you can play Moonlight Sonata," I shake my head. From what I've learned from Ash, deals are often literal and she obviously can't take a piano with her in death.

"It's the only one I can play now," her eyes fill with tears. "I asked Chance to let me keep it. But the rest is gone. I can't even read notes anymore,"

"What?" Delilah finally understands.

"Don't cry," she growls at me. "You're going to ruin your makeup,"

"You could have kept any song. Why that one?" I ask.

"I don't have an explanation,"

"You're lying," I stand up. "I hate when you try to lie to me like that. I can taste it and it doesn't taste good,"

"Fine. Because I love you, is that enough?" she sighs and sets down the brush.

"I find that very hard to believe," I admit feeling angry at her again.

"I do. In my cold f****d way. You're right. You lost the part of me that you loved. The same part your father first fell in love with. Del has always loved the bad s**t in me and your father fed off of it. You were the only one that wanted that version of me and I gave it up because-" she swallows hard. "Because I love your father more than I do anything else. He means everything to me.

"But that song. It was my favorite. The song that made me fall in love with the piano. My whole life I wondered why the f**k I would love something like that and one day I looked down at you and your big f*****g demon eyes looked back at me the same way your father does. And I knew it was for you.

"So I asked for the song because it was all I had left of you. I didn't think I'd ever have to look at you again after what I did, but Chance made it clear that I'd have to suffer the same way you did. And he's right. Seeing you now, I f*****g deserved it. Every insult, every loss, I deserve to live with this s**t and there's nothing we can ever do to change it now,"