Hallows: The Golden Viper

We Don't Follow The Rules

Kendric Lamar ft. zacari- LOVE.

B.B.

The Phantom stops in front of the old De Laughrey Plantation. This place was shut down fifteen years ago after Lucien's mother, Lily De Laughrey, died along with Carson's father, Carter Kennedy. On paper and to the public, the two of them were married. The joining of two of the strongest crime families in the world. Legends and they were one hundred percent human.

The guys all get off and wait for me to piece myself back together. I take a couple of deep breaths because my body is completely wired from taking in that many souls at the same time. When I'm ready Lucien helps me out.

The six of them look amazing in their matching suits. Their matching silver cufflinks with my initials. While they're wearing the same outfit, I love the way they've made it their own. Ro with the little silver Hermes handkerchief in his breast pocket. San with the silver grenade clip on his tie. Victor's refusal to wear his tie properly and button the last button on his dress shirt. Lucien with the little skull chain clipped to his tie and another in the pocket he likes to tuck his right hand into.

Dec doesn't like to accessorize. Spirituality over materials. I'm surprised Carson talked him into wearing it at all. And Carson. His tie is knotted in a complex crisscross pattern. His tie has a clip with my name on it. His suit was pressed properly. Everything is exactly the way it's meant to be. Regal and refined.

"You guys look so f*****g good," I say and laugh. Holy s**t I have six boyfriends and they're all gorgeous.

"Right back at you," Dec smirks.

"What are we doing here?" I ask turning around to face the huge De Laughrey home.

It was probably beautiful once. The black columns and huge window arches. Nature is well on its way to reclaim what belongs to it. The lights inside are on. It's a little unnerving in a good way or maybe it's only good because I am here with them. Lucien takes my hand and leads me up the front steps.

Lucien doesn't ever talk about his mom. I remember her. When we were little, she meant everything to him. They were always playing together. Laughing. She's the reason he likes to dance. The reason why he loves so hard. The reason why he's total chaos. I mean Mr. Daniels wasn't a saint either but Lily De Laughrey smiled like she was life itself. She lived like every day might be her last until it was.

The inside looks like someone cleaned up a place none of us should be in. If my house is dark this one is black. He leads me towards the scary ethereal dining room where there's a big round table. There's a white satin cloth over it and huge black candelabra with silver candle sticks. There are seven dining placements all around and a huge black throne chair behind one. The dark red and black walls are filthy and covered in cobwebs. Yet, every surface is nice and clean. It honestly feels like we're about to have dinner and then perform a seance to speak with the owner of this creepy mansion. It's perfect.

Lucien and Carson walk me over to the throne and pull it out for me. I laugh and take a seat as the others take their place around the table. Lucien takes out his phone and the lights dim. Carson snaps his fingers and the candles all turn on. The guys all roll their eyes but that is seriously f*****g cool. The two of them take a seat. Carson to the left with my two other devils and Lucien to my right with my two other crows.

"This is our first official date," Lucien says.

"I am so scared, right now," I admit because having them in my room is one thing.

Having them around the house or hanging out with more than one is another. But this is intense. Seeing them like this in this romantic setting all dressed up and ready to be cute and charming. No. I wasn't ready. They're competitive and a bunch of f*****g assholes. I've seen Dec and Carson slap each other over what phones are better. Carson is obviously team Andriod while Dec prefers the subtly of iPhone. And that was just the argument over the model. Things got heated when Delilah brought up what service provider was better. That was the first night I slept over at Vic's.

"Why?" Ro asks with a playful smirk on his face. Ro loves to instigate.

"Finally coming face to face with your decision?" San adds. I laugh.

"No, I've been staring at my choices from the start. I just don't think you guys have thought this through,"

"We have rules," Lucien says. And I can only smile. Right. Rules.

"Rules," I nod. "I guess those are important,"

"Here we go," Carson grins and reaches for the glass of water in front of him.

"You guess?" San asks.

"If you believe in them," I nod. "Let me guess. One of your rules is no fighting?"

"One of them," Victor grins.

"But look at you guys. Look at all of us. There are rules against this. It's why we're in this pretty old house, right? Why we sneak around in the shadows and take whatever we want, no? We're not the follow-the-rules kind of people. If people is what we are,"

"So, no rules?" Ro smirks. See what I mean? I can't take this guy anywhere. He talks me into whatever he wants. I love it.

"Not when it's just us. I mean I love you guys the way you are. You don't have to change who you are for me. This is so pretty. It's so thoughtful and romantic," I place my hand over Lucien's because this definitely has his name written all over it. "And the last thing it needs is for you guys to pretend to be something you're not,"

"Yes," Victor says and immediately takes his blazer off. "That thing is hot," he sighs and rolls up his sleeves. Dec does the same thing. "I don't know how you guys wear this s**t all the time,"

"Riff Raff. This is what happens when you pick up strays off the street, baby," Carson scoffs. Victor laughs and flips him off. I turn my attention to Lucien to see him looking down at his plate. I give his hand a squeeze.

"You did this for me?"

"I did," he clears his throat. "I wanted it to be special,"

"It is very special. Do you know how difficult it is to corral these animals?" I laugh. He grins glaring at the others like he understands perfectly. "You did that. You, the wildest one here,"

"Pft," the devils roll their eyes.

"Debatable," Victor scoffs.

"What do you guys want to talk about?" I ask. Dec raises his hand and we all laugh. "Decarious,"

"Holy s**t. I don't think you've ever called me by my whole name. That sent shivers down my spine," he sits back and the others laugh. "I want to talk about what just happened if that's okay with you?"

"Yeah, that was insane," Ahsan nods.

"Are you okay, Bonita?" Ro asks.

"That was intense," I nod. "That's Remy. How we feed mercy," I clear my throat. "It's never been a big thing like that, but that's essentially what I do when I go off on my own. I help the souls that need me. Whether they're already dead or in need of it. I get to keep the special ones. It's pretty, huh?"

"Very," Lucien nods.

"We just saw the pretty orbs of light," Carson says. "What do you see?"

"Uh," do I like all of this attention at once? "I-I see them. The way I see you. Only I can see the way they died. I can hear them crying or calling out for what they're missing. A lot of them just scream. There are times when I accidentally brush up against someone and their soul is writhing in pain. Times when I brush up against people who are so f*****g happy it makes my day. It can be overwhelming. It's why I like staying home. It's why I get so emotional. I know I can be a lot to deal with but I don't mean to. It all just takes me on a spin,"

"No," Carson is the one that speaks up first. "You're not a lot to deal with. You're actually kind of easy to please,"

"Very," Ahsan agrees.

"Is that why you're always working in your lab?" Dec asks. I nod.

This conversation is definitely weird, right? Where does it fall on my moral scale? Do I even have one of those anymore? Let's try not to when we're talking about my mental health. I might already be losing my mind. When I walked in here I was trying to keep it together but I'm not sure if I'm relaxed or if I'm feeling very supported anymore.

"It's kind of hard to explain why I want to be in there all the time. It's just me and these things that I have control of. They do what I want. They become what I need them to be or want them to be. If they break nothing bad happens. The more I learn the more I understand and it keeps me calm. It keeps my mind busy and silent. All the energy around me all the time slows and it's just me and my work,"

"Are you scared to go outside?" Ro asks.

The question takes me by surprise. It does feel like that sometimes. Like if I leave my lab or the house, everything is going to come crashing down on me. Like I'm going to be swept away into the souls wasting away around me and it can be terrifying. That only happens when I've been inside for too long. When I've been away from people. It's been that way since I can remember. It's just a hundred times worse now. Since Dad died actually. I only ever felt safe with him here with me. After that, I had to pretend to be brave. Eventually, it gets easier but there are those days when I can't handle it.

"No," I answer honestly. "Not always. This happens a lot more than I care to admit but I think being in my lab scares me more than dealing with everything else,"

"Why?" Carson asks. "It's safe for you in there. Nothing can ever hurt you,"

"Right," I laugh. "That's not what I'm afraid of. I'm not afraid of getting hurt. In there or out here. I'm afraid of things I can do. I can't yet, but one day I'm going to be able to put my hand on someone and they're going to die. I can hit someone so hard that their skull breaks. I can do all these physical things to anyone. Bend and break them any way I want. We all can," I look around the table. "I sometimes see myself doing it.

"In that lab, I made things that go against the rules of humanity. I had to take apart my robot's central wiring system because I don't trust it not to f**k s**t up. Just one of those things can level half the town before I can shut it down. I created undead fish and I spilled some of the water on a dead body. It was an accident obviously but the body came back to life and attacked me and Damian. We had to take it apart and then burn all the pieces. They wouldn't stop moving. Those are just things I've done playing around. Do you see what I mean?"

"Yeah," they all nod collectively.

"What about you guys? Do you guys ever stop and think about what gives you peace or helps you cope? Don't let me be the only one sharing. I'll feel very judged and cry in my room later," they kind of just stay quiet and I laugh because I am being one hundred percent serious. "L-Lucien?"

"Hmm?" he looks up at me.

"Do you ever think about your photos or your crows?" Please, save me. I'm drowning in this overload of information I just dumped on everyone.

"Yeah," he nods. The guys all turn their attention to him. "Well, I try not to think of my crows," he sits up. "Every time I close my eyes I can see a hundred things at once. There's never any silence in my head. It's just a bunch of noise. Voices and sounds the crows pick up.

"I think the hardest part of that is the way we're kind of wired to instinctively turn around when we hear our name. It's super easy to control now but when I was little it did scare me. I didn't know what was happening at first. I had all these voices in my head. This house is soundproof. The glass and the walls are warded to keep the sound out. My father designed it that way. Your house is also built that way. It's where he got the idea.

"I hated going to school. I hated the way people would talk about me and my parents. I hated how everyone was always talking about you and Delilah and Carson. It made me angry and all I wanted to do was lash out at all of them. To hurt anyone that would say anything bad about us. But my mom was always very patient with me. She wasn't like us but she understood in a way that even my father struggled with. She would play the violin and I knew I was going to be okay. But I was never scared of myself.

"When my vision started to change. She gave me a camera. She would say, pick something pretty and focus on it. Let it become what you want to see and I did. I love taking pictures. I love recording memories. I love that I can change them to be exactly what I want them to be. Through my eyes. Not the eyes of the crows,"

"I love that," I smile giving his hand a squeeze. I didn't know any of that. I knew the noisy birds in his head part but the rest of it was beautiful.

"I want to know something about you, Carson," Ro says. Everyone looks at him expectantly.

"Okay," he sighs.

"Wait, really?" Lucien asks surprised. He nods and sits back to think about what he's going to say. How exciting.

"I don't really have a problem with what I am," he shrugs. "When I was a kid, my dad was the greatest f*****g person I knew. Not Anthony, I mean he was a really cool dad but he wasn't my father. Carter. I remember wanting to be exactly like him. He always had the best clothes and the best jewelry. The f*****g coolest cars. The way he spoke. It was just so powerful. Everyone always listened to him.

"My mom was always on the move and he tried his best to control his need to keep her safe. It was impulsive and Kelly was f*****g crazy," he says with a distant look in his eyes. "When I started becoming like her. She challenged me and I was a lot stronger than her when I inherited the Devil," he sighs. "I would get carried away during training.

"I mean I get carried away all the time, but when I was a kid. I didn't know it was wrong and Kelly encouraged me. I would f**k her up really bad. And humans, particularly humans like my father. When they are bonded to us, they start to become like us and one day he just snapped the same way I do. The same way my mom did. I wasn't stronger than him and even if I had been, I didn't want to hurt him. He meant everything to me. He just couldn't handle the hold the devil had on him. I mean there were so many things that could have triggered it, but that was where it happened.

"He would cry after," he takes a deep breath and lets out slowly. "It would tear him apart to f**k me up the way he did. He would tell me to run to hide from him and he stopped coming home. It made my mom so sad. It felt like we lost him way before that plane blew up. It's why I try to keep my cool. Why I try to push down my emotions. I am scared of myself sometimes. It often feels like everything I touch turns against me. Like I infect them and they lash out because that's what I deserve," he laughs.

"But f**k, I can't stop pushing those boundaries. It's like the more someone or something hates me the stronger I become. The more I want to f*****g break them. It feels good to know that I have control over something. Their life. What they value the most. It's all in my hands and I can play with them however I want. It's the best feeling in the world," he looks at me with a smirk. "Well, second now,"

"f**k," Victor laughs. "You are one freaky, dude. I honestly really enjoy watching you work. Mariah was a f*****g mess. I hated everything about her. Even her f*****g smell. She was a piece of s**t and she doesn't even have an excuse to do what she did. Her mom was the nicest lady I ever met. Her dad is f*****g professor. She lived a really good life. She was just rotten. I've heard about Carter and if he's the reason why you're the way you are, I toast to him,"

"To Carter," I agree and raise my glass. It has white wine in it. I've never had it. I'm more of a vodka or whiskey kind of girl. "And Lily,"

"To Carter and Lily," the others agree.

"Can I pick next?" I ask. They all laugh. "San,"

"Yes," the others agree.

"Tells us about your family," Ro nods.

"All right," he laughs. "Uh, I grew up in the fringe. My parents were both Devils. You can breed with the same kind of Hallows. I don't know if you guys know that,"

"No," Carson and I say at the same time.

"Yeah, it's cross-breeding that's against the laws of our nature. Obviously, you being the exception," he motions to me. "My parents were big in devil ops. It's a division in the fringe. Like a special unit made up of just devils. They used to infiltrate other countries.

"We're trained from a young age to adapt to our surroundings. To blend in with the crowd. To seem human in different parts of the world. My dad was really good at it. He had degrees in political science and linguistics. He wouldn't just invade other countries. He could get into any f*****g secret society he could find. My mom was the best f*****g huntress they had. She could find anyone anywhere and bring them back alive. Together they devastated whole societies.

"I was seven when she got sick and dad moved us here. We adapted pretty quickly. It's not even a challenge to be American. No offense," he laughs at us. "The rules here are easy. People here believe in money and dreams. Where I come from, it's not like that. It's you either give yourself purpose and do what you have to in order to survive or you're f*****g dead.

"My mom taught me how to build s**t that blows up. She has all these journals with recipes for bombs and gunpowder. She loved fire. The entire right side of her body had really bad burns from when she was a kid and first started f*****g with all this s**t. She kept them as a symbol of who she was. She was weird.

"My dad was the one that made me like this," he places his hand over his chest. "We would sit in the shop and he would wave me over to the window and he gave the people walking by these funny voices. Cool little stories. Fun personalities. We could kill an entire afternoon just people-watching. It taught me patience. It helped me control this s**t inside of me.

"I mean the thing Carson said about loving having control is facts. Big facts. Both my parents f****d s**t up. I saw it on more than one occasion. My mom would bring in some asshole who couldn't pay up and my dad would go to work on them.

"The first time I saw my dad like that. He was covered in blood. He had this big f*****g smile on his face. The same man who would sit with me for hours telling me cute stories. He scared the s**t out of me. When I give in, I see him in myself. I hear his voice in my ear. The more I learn about myself. The more I feel like I'm becoming him and I hate it,"

"One last story," Lucien says. "Then dinner. Can I pick?"

"Relax," I scold him for just brushing past that.

"Lucien can pick a new story. I can already see you picking apart my life," Ahsan grins. "I'm not big on group therapy. That's all you're getting tonight,"

"Aww, it's rude to do that, Luc," I growl at him.

"Victor. Son of the New City Widow," Lucien says excitedly, completely dismissing Ahsan's story. The others nod in agreement.

"Fine. But I am going to ask later. I want to know how it is that you came to be the King shark of the city at fifteen all by yourself," I agree with Lucien.