Hallows: The Golden Viper

Girl's Night

Flyleaf- Red Sam

B.B.

Rose is all alone in that hospital. No father. No mother. No brother. No Shane. No Baby. She just stares at the wall in front of her. Barely talks to anyone. I've been working on upgrading her chip. So she can hear me. Delilah and I came up with it the night we got into a fight. It's Thursday night and all the girls are here. Including Diana.

"Okay, so explain what is happening," Mom says while we all sit around the study table with my laptop and microphone from my desktop.

Stacy and Natalie are making drinks. Delilah and Diana brought leftover pastries from the clubhouse. I gave James the night off so he and the other demons can go with the guys to their stupid fight night thing.

"I put one of those tracker things in Rose," Delilah says. "And B.B. upgraded the programming so she can hear us in her head,"

"Wait," Stacy laughs. "Are we really going to drive this b***h crazy? For what?"

"For fun," Delilah answers. "It's girl's night,"

"Shane is going to kill her," I say. "He's back,"

"Is that what you want?" Mom asks.

"For him to kill her?" I ask. "I wanted to be the one to do it, but they were removed from the board. So, I am settling for f*****g with her a little before it happens,"

"You loved this girl," she reminds me.

"I loved you too," I remind her.

"B.B.," she glares at me.

"You don't think she got what she deserved? She let Mr. Halestorm and Tiffany's daughter get killed. She tried to Espinosa me. She's a Lieutenant for the Church of the Light. They don't go up in rank based on academics, Mom. It's an execution merit based on how strong their target is. She brought her dad into our house and he almost got me to kill half the school in our ballroom,"

"Okay, I'm in," Stacy raises her hand.

"So, kill her," Mom sighs.

"It's girl's night. We want to do this," Delilah dismisses her. I set everything up and show them the voiceovers.

"Okay, I have to get Lily on the phone. She's going to f*****g love this. When we were your age we would get super stoned and call the families of all the people she and Tony killed to apologize," Mom puts the silver cup on the table. "Duchess of Rage,"

"What the f**k is this?" a voice comes through. Delilah covers her mouth.

"Hey," Mom says. "It's me,"

"Ashley," she sings. "We were just talking s**t about you,"

"Rude," Stacy puts her hand on her chest.

"Whoa, who is that?" another voice comes through.

"Kels," Mom grins. "You're back,"

"Yeah, we got that hunter in Bejin," she laughs. "I told you he was going to beg,"

"Oh, my god," Delilah squeaks with delight.

"Yeah, I'm here with the girls," Mom says. "You guys are going to love this. So, they created a little chip to put in people's brains and they are going to use it to drive a girl into madness by speaking to her through it,"

"Oh, my Lucifer!" Lily laughs. "I love that. Wow, mean girl s**t has gotten better since we used to beef, Kels,"

"Okay, Gremlin. Chill," Kelly laughs. "When you say, girls? Your girls?"

"Introduces yourselves, ladies," Mom encourages us.

"I'm B.B.," I blurt out. "Hi, hello," I say nervously. I don't know why I wave at the cup. It's not like they can see me.

"B.B.," Lily says. My heart is beating a million miles per hour. That's my Lucien's maker. Lily f*****g De Laughrey.

"Yes?"

"B.B. who is dating both our sons," Kelly adds.

"That is correct. Yes,"

"Hmm," they both say at the same time. I sit back looking down at the cup.

"I sense judgment," I say crossing my arms over my chest. "And disapproval,"

"You would be right," Kelly answers with a sneer in her tone.

"Sweet. Finally, someone that's not going to kiss my ass," I laugh. "Please, tell me more of your disapproval of me. I'd love honest feedback. All I have here is Delilah and her opinions are biased on account of us being sisters,"

"Uh," Lily laughs. "How do we proceed? I've never picked on a girl who enjoyed it,"

"Not so much enjoying as welcoming the challenge," Mom laughs. "Next,"

"I'm Stacy," Stacy leans forward on the table to get closer to the cup.

"Butterfly girl," Lily beams. "I love butterflies,"

"I'm Natalie," Natalie grins.

"Natalie," they both coo.

"I bet you're tall," Kelly adds.

"I'm five six. Kind of average," Natalie shrugs.

"I'm Five ten," I say.

"No one asked you, B.B.," Kelly scoffs. Delilah and I laugh.

"I'm Delilah," Del introduces herself.

"Oh," Lily blurts out. "We've met. You almost killed me three times,"

"Yeah," Delilah smiles.

"I'm Diana," Diana says lastly.

"Diana?" they both ask.

"Oh, she's bunny girl's baby," Mom says excitedly.

"Oooh," they both sing.

"How cute! Does she look like her?" Kelly asks.

"Her hair is a little darker. She has Calliste's signature green eyes. But yeah for the most part. She's as tall as B.B. and petite,"

"Ha," Delilah points at me. "You're buff,"

"I'm not ashamed of that. I take pride in my physique. If you got hit in the stomach you'll probably go down like a sack of s**t,"

"B.B.," Mom growls at me.

"It's cool, Mom. She needs all the extra stamina. She is dating six big ass dudes,"

"Delilah," Mom growls at her.

"That's right. Just the six. How many one-night stands have you had or did you lose count already?" I scoff.

"Come on guys. I want to be mean to Rose," Stacy complains.

"Oh, that's who we're f*****g with. I heard implanted chip and the rest went out the window," Diana laughs. "B.B. invite me over more often. This s**t is lit. What's the deal with the cup?"

"Apologize. Both of you," Mom demands.

"Sorry," the two of us roll our eyes.

"Aww, Ash. You're having all the fun," Kelly says.

"The cup is an interdimensional communications device that allows us to speak to demonic entities," I explain to Diana.

"That is f*****g cool," she nods.

"This is the first time we're all in the same room without someone trying to kill someone," Mom sighs. "It's usually the boys but the girls aren't too far behind. It's not fun when they gang up on us,"

"Ooo, that sounds funny," Lily laughs. "Okay, let's do this thing. This girl. What are the settings? Why do we want to destroy her?"

"We've been friends since we were nine. A couple of years ago she stole my boyfriend and then went on to kill his father and his baby sister. She had her dad possess me and then use me to try and kill half the kids in our school. Uh, her mom tried to become the Mayor of Hellbourne. She cheated on said ex and was pregnant with some other dude's kid. Then her organization beat the s**t out of her for insubordination and now she's in the hospital and we've eliminated her entire family," I explain.

"She f****d said ex at my viewing and B.B. caught them," Delilah adds.

"He's Tiffany's son," Mom finishes.

"Oh, s**t. That was intense. I'm going to need more details on that but for now. Yeah, let's do this. What are the rules?"

"I was thinking the Morgan Freeman voiceover," Stacy says.

"I was thinking the demon one," Deliah says.

"I like that one," Natalie nods.

"I was thinking the Jennifer Tilly one," I say.

"Yes," Diana nods.

"Jennifer Tilly," Lily laughs. "I love her,"

"All in favor?" Mom asks.

"Fine," they all agree.

"Can you give my robot that voice-over?" Deliah asks.

"Jennifer Tilly?" I laugh.

"Mhm,"

"You'll be able to change the settings. I want mine to have Andy Beirsack's voice or Lucien's," I shrug.

"Wait, Robot?" Kelly asks. "Ash, you're letting your daughter build f*****g robots? Have you guys ever watched any Terminator movies?"

"It would be a win for us if the machines took over. We have lightsabers," Stacy laughs.

"What?" they both laugh.

"No, they're not lightsabers. They're swords that get really hot and they're not very safe. I'm scared to even give Lucien one. He'd chop his f*****g hand off. Or everyone else's on purpose," I shake my head.

Lily bursts into laughter. "Aww, my baby. Is he okay?"

"Yes, he's very very okay. He's always smiling and picking on everyone. Oh, guess what?" I say excitedly.

"What?" she matches my tone.

"He's valedictorian. We had to bribe him into it. He got into all his dream schools. He's starting Julliard in the Fall and will be going on a coast tour with Del and the others after Graduation. He makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. He's so thoughtful and-"

"Stop crying. You said you would show no weakness," Kelly scolds her.

"That's my baby," she growls. "More,"

"I found your violin and I'm restoring it for him. I've been practicing but I suck at the music stuff. Maybe I'd be able to play like you if I had seen you play it myself,"

"We have videos," Mom says.

"No one can play like me," Lily sniffles.

"Dante could," Mom scoffs. "And B.B. has the same copy and paste ability,"

"You would do that for him?" she asks.

"She killed a bunch of gangsters for Carson. They were mean to him. She just took her not a lightsaber and f*****g chopped people up," Natalie laughs. "It was awesome. Dylan wouldn't shut up about it,"

"You chopped up people for my son?" Kelly asks.

"And she's going to make him President of the United States," Stacy adds.

"I would do anything for either of them. We're a team. It's what we do," I shrug.

"Okay, let's Jennifer Tilly this b***h," Lily laughs.

"We say what we want into the mic and she'll hear it. Just her. What do we want to start her off with?" I ask.

"Why don't we all just blurt s**t out at once like a cluster of thoughts and voices?" Kelly suggests.

"Ooh, I love that," Delilah says.

"Okay, on my mark," I nod. "One, two, three,"

I press the button and we all start saying random things into the mic. I fix the audio so it doesn't overwhelm her all at once. I let go of the button and we sit back. Aww, man. I wish I could see her face.

"Hello?" Rose's voice comes through. "Is there anyone there?"

"One more time. That was awesome," Lily laughs. I press the button again. Her vitals start going up on my phone. I let go of the button.

"Hello?" she whispers but her breathing is erratic.

"Turn it down so we can get her out of the room. Like a Jennifer Tilly ghost," Lily says excitedly. I pull the mic to me and adjust the setting.

"Rose," I whisper into the mic and let go.

"Hello?"

"Rose,"

"Who are you?"

"What do we name her?" I ask.

"Tell it's her conscience," Stacy says and we all laugh.

"No, no. Me," Delilah takes the mic. "Rose, help me,"

"Oh, good one," Lily laughs.

"What the f**k is happening?" Rose cries and we all laugh.

"Rose," Delilah repeats. "Help,"

"I don't want to," she cries.

"Aww, I think I feel bad," Mom says.

"Shut up, Ashley. Don't be a ruiner," Kelly growls.

"Yeah, Villanueva. Let us have this. You get to keep playing with them on your own time," Lily adds. My mom rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Rose, I need your help," Delilah continues. "Please,"

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"Do we have a map of the hospital?" Del asks.

"No, but I've been there all this week," I pull the mic back to me.

"Rose, I need you to get up," I whisper.

"Who are you?" she asks. She sounds scared.

"Rose," we all say at the same time when I press the button. The voices all echo.

"Help me!" she cries out. "Someone! Please!"

"Can other people hear you guys?" Kelly asks.

"No," we laugh.

"Someone is messing with me," Rose cries.

"Rose," Delilah sings pressing the button.

"Do you hear that? Do you hear her?" she shouts.

"Miss, calm down. There's no one here," a gentle voice says in the distance. We all laugh.

"Please, please," she cries. "Help me,"

"Rose," I whisper into the mic again. "Calm down,"

"I don't understand," she cries.

"Rose, send the nurse away," I order her slightly raising my voice. There's silence for a bit.

"Miss?"

"I'm okay," she finally says. "I'm sorry I bothered you,"

"These kids do not watch enough scary movies," Lily says. "Tony is going to be upset about that,"

"It's okay. Would you like me to leave the light on?" the nurse asks her.

"Yes," it's silent for a few minutes. "Hello?"

"No, she's trying to communicate," Natalie bursts into laughter.

"Okay, now get her to leave the room," Mom says.

"Rose, get off the bed," I instruct.

"I don't want to," she cries. "I-" she blows her nose. We all flinch from how loud it is. "Please, just leave me alone,"

"I need you," I whisper. "I need your help,"

"If I go outside-" she cries. "They'll hurt me again,"

"Who, Rose?" I ask. "Who will hurt you?"

"Priestess Belecov," she whispers. Delilah and I look at one another.

"Why would Demetria Belecov hurt you?" I ask.

"Who are you?" she demands.

"Tell me why she hurt you,"

"She wants stupid B.B.," she says begrudgingly. "Everybody wants that stupid f*****g whatever she is,"

"Ouch," Kelly laughs.

"We should probe for more information on this priestess," Delilah says.

"I don't want to do this anymore," Rose cries.

"Do what, Rose?" I ask her.

"They took everyone," she clears her throat. "They'll sacrifice them all to get their hands on her. The church is going to try and purge the city. My dad. He showed them,"

"Showed them what?"

"B.B. has no defenses. She doesn't know how to control herself," she blows her nose again. "They know now. That's why she's here,"

"Rose, I need you to help me," I say. "Get out of the bed and go over to the window,"

"Who are you?"

"I'm someone who needs your help," there's a pause.

"What now?" she asks.

"Look down at the street," I lean into the mic. "Do you see how pretty the view from up here is?"

"Yeah," she seems calmer now and I smile.

"Was it worth it?" I ask her.

"What do you mean?"

"All the lives you destroyed. Was it worth it?" I ask. She starts to cry again. "Open the window, Rose,"

"I don't want to," she cries.

"Rose," I say gently. "What do you really have left? Your parents are gone. Shane hates you. You lost the only thing that could have potentially saved you. The thing growing inside of you is gone. Just reach out and slide the window open, Rose,"

"Holy s**t, this is getting dark," Natalie snorts.

"Go on, Rose, it's right there. Push the window open,"

"What are you doing?" another voice demands. We all groan.

"f*****g Shane," Delilah growls.

"I-I," she studders.

"It's cold out. You could get sick. Leave the window shut," he says angrily. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"I'm-" she's stunned. "What are you doing here?"

"Tell him to leave," I say raising my voice. "I don't want him here,"

"Go away," she says.

"Lay down," he says in a tone I've never heard him use.

"Rose," I whisper. "Run," I laugh. "Rose, get out of there. It's not safe,"

"Oh, s**t," Delilah looks up at me. "He f*****g won't. Not the f*****g quarterback,"

"He will," I reassure her and press the button. "Rose, it's not safe,"

"Shane?"

"Get in the f*****g bed, Rose. I'm not going to ask you again," he says angrily.

"I am fully invested in this," Lily laughs.

"Please, don't hurt me," Rose chokes out.

"I didn't believe her," he says. "B.B. likes to play mind games. She thinks she's so f*****g smart,"

"I am," I scoff.

"You're drunk," she cries.

"I'm not. Drinking away your problems doesn't help," he laughs cynically. "It's something I learned from my mother," he sighs. "Do you regret it? Do you regret letting your father come into my house so that he can strangle her?"

"I didn't-"

"You didn't what?" he laughs. "You didn't know what he would do?"

"Shane-"

"Answer me," he demands.

"He was only supposed to kill your dad," she answers him. "I didn't know he was going to kill Demi. I would never do-"

"Stop," there's no sound for a moment.

"Rose, get out of there," I whisper into the mic. "Get away from him,"

"Did you ever love me?" he asks her.

"She is a dead b***h," I say sitting back. I love that I'm only scaring her more. "Rose, lie," I press the button. "Say, yes. That he was the only one. Tell him you love him still,"

"I still love you," she chokes out. "Shane-"

"I don't think you do," he says.

"This is so messed up," Kelly laughs. "She's definitely Dante's kid,"

"I do. I love you," she cries trying to calm herself to be more convincing.

"Do you want to know something weird?" he asks her. We all sit back and wait for him to continue. "When I was alone with you, for a long time. All I could think of was how f****d up it was that I was there,"

"Dude," Stacy laughs. "I think he did like you,"

"Shut up," I shake my head.

"I mean it was you from the start. I only got close to B.B. because of you and then-" he pauses. "And then I got to know her. She was this fun-loving girl and she seemed to know exactly what she wanted. I started considering her my friend. She got me through some rough s**t. She still is I mean I don't know why the f**k she even cares.

"It changed everything. Even when you started paying attention again. Even when you did everything you did. I genuinely felt bad about hurting her the way we did. And the way it happened felt a lot like you did that s**t on purpose,"

"Shane," she tries to interrupt him.

"Let me finish," he growls. He sounds so close to her. Not just in the same room but like he's talking right into her ear. "Your unwillingness to admit that you're in love with her bothers me,"

"Ooo," the girls all sing.

"I'm not," Rose denies it and I know she's not lying. She only looked at me because it was her job.

"Everything you did was to get a rise out of her and when she didn't give you what you wanted, you changed. It was like you became obsessed with taking her place. Like you wanted to be her. Do you know that she can calculate things like a f*****g computer? That she reads things and can recite them back even without the book in front of her?

"She taught me how to strategize my playbook. I mean we would lose hours talking about this s**t. Some of my plays, she came up with them. And she taught me how to do it with f*****g Cheetos," he scoffs. "And I still couldn't bring myself to love her the way I love you,"

"Aww," Delilah groans. "I do feel bad for him. I didn't expect that,"

"But you know what?" he laughs. "I don't have to love her. She's got plenty of that. Everyone f*****g loves that weird f*****g emo b***h," he sighs. "But I am going to do something I think she deserves,"

"What are you doing?" she cries. "Shane,"

"I hate her," he says. "I hate that she was always the center of your f*****g world when she wouldn't even look at you. That f*****g thing is dead inside and look at you," he laughs. "You're just like everyone else. A f*****g Blackstone groupie. She wants you dead. We all want you dead,"

"Please," she cries.

"You can go to hell and maybe suck her dad's d**k while you're at it," he says calmly.

Rose shrieks and keeps screaming until the mic echoes loudly. A notification comes up on my screen letting me know the subject has been terminated. We all stay very quiet.

"What did he do?" Kelly asks.

"I think he threw her out the window," Delilah laughs.

"Holy s**t, that was intense," Diana takes my hand.

"Are you okay?" Mom asks me. I take a drink from my whiskey and nod.

"Please, tell me you recorded this," Delilah looks up at me.

"Yeah, I'm going to show the guys," I nod.

"Dude, are you okay?" Natalie asks. "You got really quiet towards the end there,"

I put the glass down and get up. Am I okay? I don't even know how to answer that anymore. I don't know if okay is something I would use to describe anything that I am. Rose was a bad person who did bad things. But so am I. So is Shane. Everyone under this roof.

Rose is dead. These hunters, they f*****g took a child and fed it all these lies and then through her out like she meant nothing. It's no different than what they did to David. I don't know if Rose was used the same way he was. What are they even trying to do? What is the goal here? Why are they so adamant about going up against something they can't beat?

"B.B.?" I turn around to see David standing in the doorway.

"David," I greet him. "Come in,"

"No," Delilah shouts. "He's not allowed here,"

"It's okay," I wave her off. He hesitates and then steps inside. My dad comes from upstairs and my mom comes over from behind me. "I wanted to talk to you anyway,"

"Sure," he says. I shut the door behind him and lead him up to my Dad's study. The four of them follow.

"What's going on?" Dad demands. "Why is he here?"

"David," I motion him to sit down in front of the desk. He looks between my parents and takes a seat. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," he answers quietly.

"Good, I'm glad," I sit back. "Do you remember when you met Senator Passe?"

"How do you know that?"

"I was in your head, David," I smile.

"B.B., I think we need to talk about what happened downstairs," Mom interjects.

"I agree," Delilah nods.

"What about that memory caught your attention?" David dismisses them.

"He's the one giving your orders," I tell him. "I've been going through your memories trying to find something useful and I've put together a profile of Elders who I think are calling the shots," I open the top drawer and take the journal I started on him out. "That is all the information I've gathered on you since finding out you were a hunter and I've added to it based on what I saw in your memories,"

"Okay," he says and takes it. "What do you plan on doing with this information?"

"I don't have a plan yet. But before Lucien graduates, I want all of the Elders of the Church eliminated. I want full control of the hunters who are marked and you're going to help me do it. If you don't do it willingly, I am going to put that mark back on you and make you do it anyway. It would be easier because I'm already connected to you,"