Hallows: The Golden Viper

World Domination It Is

Pierce The Veil- The First Punch

Delilah

I look down at the golden shimmer on my fingertips. Compromised by my own f*****g body. I didn't think my demonic energy would settle this fast. I should have known better than to keep it from her. The look on her face when she saw them. The realization and then the hundreds of thoughts that flashed in her eyes. f*****g hell, she went from you're really dead to Who the f**k are you in a split second, but that's just who B.B. is. I know that better than anyone else.

"So, are you really Delilah or some other demon?" Stacy asks. I look over at her.

"It's me," I roll my eyes.

"That's what some other demon would say," Dylan says.

"It's me. I'm Delilah. I just- I was in purgatory for a long time and I grew up. I'm a f*****g two-hundred-year-old demon princess stuck in my own adolescent body,"

"Sure, sure," Marcos grins. "So are hundreds of thousands of other demons,"

"If I were another demon I wouldn't have access to Mun. I wouldn't have been able to fool anyone,"

"You're not exactly helping your case. The fact is that whether you are or aren't Dilly Dilly. B.B. doesn't trust you anymore. You heard what she said. You've heard what David has been telling us. Our bodies are vessels you can put just about anything in. Unless you can prove you're D.P.B. B.B. isn't going to want s**t to do with you. She's probably trying to convince the guys to help her get rid of you in the other Hummer," Natalie laughs.

"She probably is," I nod. "It's not going to happen. She's strong but she's not strong enough to take me. At least, not yet,"

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Dylan asks. "From the start. You f****d up bad this time and if you're not her, then. I'll help her kill you,"

"I can't die. I'm already dead," I scoff. "Best you can do is make me jump bodies,"

"You're definitely Delilah," Dylan laughs. "Some other demon would have bailed already. Blackstone trademark number one. Dumb motherfuckers aren't afraid to die. Did you see the look on Car's face when she screamed? It was probably the same look she gave him in the lab. He jumped right into doing whatever she needed to help her process this. You should have told us sooner,"

"Why didn't you?" Marcos demands.

"You're going to see for yourselves," I shrug.

"What? Do you mean B.B. finally taking that stick up her ass out and using it to kill some f*****g assholes? Yeah, we know she does that. She has a f*****g lightsaber," Dylan laughs. "You should see her let go, Del. It's beautiful. You actually go harder than she does and she can stop mid-attack. I've never seen anyone do that. Not even you. It's how we got New City, remember?"

I don't argue with them. There's no point. We arrive at the compound. It's dark now. Just a little past nine. I slip my hair through my face mask and cover my mouth. I check my weapons and climb out of the Hummer. Natalie's amber eyes burn like embers as she gives in to the Hellhound.

"If you're hiding anything else. You should fess up," she growls.

Dylan doesn't look at me as the two of them disappear into the trees around the compound. Stacy waves at me as her butterflies take her away. Marcos holds up an extra tag gun. I put it in one of the extra pockets in my cargo pants.

"If you're not Delilah, please don't tell anyone about the stuff we talk about. I like old grumpy Delilah. She makes me feel safe. The old you was an ass. But yeah, that was a d**k move, man. If she ends the world, f**k them. They've never done s**t for us. Hell on earth means we won," Marcos puts his hand on my shoulder. "The only thing I miss about old Del is how she would put Carson on his ass. B.B.'s convinced him he's a god. I don't know, demon princess. Maybe show him he's mortal. He's begging for it,"

I laugh and watch as he runs over to the gate and jumps over it like it isn't ten feet tall. I feel Mun's head nudge my arm. I turn to face him as he lowers his head. I spent years afraid of this thing. Yet, he's been the only constant in my life. The only thing that kept me from falling apart. I crawl onto his head and let him lead me into the compound.

Hellbourne is nothing like purgatory. I don't know how to explain to them that it doesn't f*****g matter in the end. The territory, the money, the power, it's all bullshit. I never felt any better after taking anything. I never felt any better after a feed. I felt better when I was finally with Ash in our crappy makeshift mansion. When he laughed at my stupid jokes. The rest was damned and I could care less about it.

Eve slithers over to us. She's so small compared to Mun and B.B. rides her like a little pony. I slide down Mun's back to be next to her. I still wouldn't have told her. She knows now and there's nothing I can do about it. I don't want her to lose herself in this. I don't want her to live the same life I did. I don't want her to prove them right. They'd crucify her. I don't know if she's strong enough to handle that. I just want her suffering to stop and this path she's choosing is only making it worse.

"How do we alert them we're here?" she asks.

"We break in," I answer. I slide off Mun and walk up in front of him. I look up at him and reach for his nose. He lowers it and presses his face to the palm of my hand. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to know,"

"I don't want to talk about it, right now," she hops off Eve never taking her hand off the snake until she's standing in front of it. In her other hand, she's holding the gun Ro gave her when I first resurrected. Eve shrinks down and slithers up the side of her body.

"Why does your body become immobile when she bites you sometimes?" I ask. She glances over at me.

"Because she's doing it to poison me and because it's not consensual. Has Mun never bitten you out of anger?" she asks. I shake my head. "Must be Eve's temper," she taps the snake's head. Eve bumps her cheek before she bites her. "It even hurts when she's mad. I barely felt it just now," she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "Lucien said she's on the second floor,"

"B.B.," I reach for her. She looks down at my hand but she doesn't pull away. "You know it's me, right?" she looks up at me. Her expression is blank. She only ever looks at me like that when she thinks I'm lying. "Okay," I nod because I do deserve that right now. "You want to see the old me?

"Fine. I'll show you that I am still here. I'm not that person anymore, B.B. I'm better and I'm trying to show you we can be more. Believe me or don't. The fact is that even if I'm not, I'm all you've got left. We can sit here or at home arguing over this or you can let it go, accept that I am who I tell you I am," I laugh opening myself up for Mun's venom. "You don't have s**t to lose anymore,"

Mun's fangs pierce through me. It's a lot easier to give in to it now. My body is adjusting just fine. The growth should be kicking in soon. I'm kind of glad I don't have to come up with some bullshit lie but I had a good one. Power. Particularly the amount of power she feeds the stone.

"Okay, I believe you," she stops me. I look back at her. "You are the only one that's never sugar-coated anything for me. And up until last night, you were the only one that got a kick out of hurting my feelings,"

"What did Dad say to you?" I laugh.

"That he felt bad about leaving me with you and if he had stayed he probably would have ended up on the chandelier as well,"

"No, he f*****g didn't," I burst into laughter. "What an asshole,"

"Okay, show me," she shrugs.

Does it upset me that she's talking to me like I'm one of her simps? Yes, it really f*****g does. I take a deep breath and reach for my Glocks-19s. I jump up as Mun slithers under me. I place my hand on his head and release the energy I've been storing since I was resurrected. B.B. lets out a little yelp as Mun grows to his entire glory.

"Saiko, Mun," I whisper to him. "Denka no yobi o korose,"

I crouch putting my arm up in front of me to protect my face from anything sharp coming my way. Mun curls around himself to gain momentum and launches us toward the house. We start at the third floor. As soon as I have a clear opening I jump off his head as he goes through the house breaking anything in his way.

The sound of growling surrounds me in the dust left behind by my snake. My eighteen-year-old body isn't strong enough for me to release my demonic energy. It's too young. It would rip me apart. For this, I think the divine Hallow energy of the stone will be more than enough.

Mun's venom makes its way through my bloodstream numbing my muscles to prepare for me to harness the power the stone provides my body. A wolf charges from my right and I fire. One shot surrounded by my essence cuts through the air going through its mouth. I expand the essence. Wolf's guts explode all over the walls. The rest of them charge at once. I lift my Glock and fire consecutively.

I don't even have to aim. It's a trick B.B. is barely tapping into. Her's is a lot stronger than mine because she's a Reaper. It's combined with the power of decay. Mine isn't that cool but it's just as effective. Twenty years in the pit taught me how to work with my abilities rather than control them. I see it in my head and my essence does what I need it to.

Familiars aren't controlled. It's one thing B.B. got right before I did and if I had the ovaries to teach her properly, I could have prevented what happened today. Mun never bit me because I would never have allowed it. Her snake is too spoiled. B.B. gives them control over her. It's give and take with them.

Patience isn't something I have ever mastered. I thought using her gentle approach would be more their style but I see now that the gentle approach is her thing. I jump up as Mun's head breaks through the window coming at me, and I land on his head.

"Ni-Kai," I shiver as their energy passed through me like liquid fire. Carson was right. Feeding on Supernaturals isn't like feeding on humans. I can hear crying as we go down the stairs. Queen Mother and her daughter break for the stairs to get to the first floor as I face off with their guards. Six. "Oyatsunojikan, Mun,"

I jump off as he charges the wolves. Those who haven't shifted fire at him as he opens his mouth and swallows a wolf whole. He twists around and takes another one in his mouth while wrapping his body around another. They can fire and bite at him all they want but they're not getting through those scales. If the demons couldn't do it, werewolves sure as f**k can't even scratch him. They're just snacks for him. I make my way down the steps to find B.B. and the Devils sitting in the living room with Trey Goodwill his mate and his daughter.

"Do you count your bullets?" B.B. asks.

"Yeah, and the bodies," I nod.

"I didn't know the energy bubbles were a snake thing,"

"Bubbles," I shake my head. "You make everything cute. It's annoying,"

"You're not done," she turns her attention to Goodwill. I swallow my retort because she's upset with me but it's the last time I'll allow it.

"Is he tagged?" I ask, going over to them. I wave Dec over. He smirks and comes forward. I place my hand on his shoulder, hold my gun up to him, and lean in to whisper in his ear. "This is the part where you prove to me you're worthy of my sister,"

His eyes come up to mine as his hand curls around the handle. I take a step back and give him a nod.

"You gon kill me, Dec?" Goodwill asks him. "For what exactly? She'll replace you like she does everything else. You're a possession to her. Not a man. A pet, not an ally. That's how you want to live the rest of your life?"

"You trippin'," Dec scoffs. "I'm not one of you. Not even if weren't what we are. Even if we were just two black men, you'd still feel threatened by me, and that's aight, man. That means you got good instincts, Alpha Trey.

"I'm not going to kill you, dawg. You're going to answer to a higher power from now on. I want you to watch the same way I did this afternoon," he steps up to him and smiles as Carson and Ahsan go around to grab the Alpha. He starts to struggle as they put him on his knees. "You f****d up, Trey. You shouldn't have gone after my girl,"

"Dec don't," he growls as he turns his attention to his family. He raises his hand and shoots the girl first. "You motherfucker," he howls. The high pitch of his wolf crying out bounces off the walls making, B.B. flinch. It takes her a moment to process what just happened but as her daughter's body hits the floor, Queen Mother screams. She drops down to her knees, shaking hands reaching for her baby, as she cries out for her mate. Dec puts his boot on her back and pushes her down and opens fire. "I'm going to kill you!"

"No, you're not," Ahsan grabs him by the throat and slams him on his back as Carson holds his right arm down.

Trey kicks his legs out as they force him down to tag him.

"Anything else?" I turn my attention to my sister. She shakes her head unable to look up at what she's doing. She knows how wrong this is and yet she still went through with it. "This is the last time you speak to me in that tone, Belladonna. If this is what you want from me-"

"I want you to be yourself. I want you to stop acting like you're Ashley. You're not. You're not Mom. Okay, I get it. You're a two-hundred-and-something-year-old demon. I didn't want to do this, Dilly. You forced my hand. I know what you're afraid of. I can't promise you that I won't let this get to me because it's my nature. You said you felt better down there. Free. I want that. I can't have it until the threat is eliminated. We want the same thing. Just stop keeping s**t from me. We talked about this already. It's getting old,"

"Okay," I nod. "You got what you wanted?"

She turns her attention over to Trey who is holding his nose looking up at Dec. He growls and is about to charge when B.B. steps in front of him.

"You can't shift anymore. If you do, you won't be able to shift back into your human skin. You'll be trapped as a wolf forever," she holds up her hand and shows him whatever is on there. "This is probably the most expensive leash you're ever going to be on, Alpha Trey. The little chip in your head will kill you if you don't give me what I want. If you shift, your brain will move and the chip will slice through it. It won't be pleasant,"

"You already took everything," he shouts. Tears stream down his face.

"Yeah," she nods. "Doesn't that make you angry? Doesn't it make you hate me?"

"Yes," he growls.

"You shot me, asshole. Eighteen people died and over what?" she shouts. "Over a little spat? I didn't want any trouble. I told you what I wanted and you chose to ignore me," she kneels down in front of him and gets close. As she puts her hands on his face, she starts to cry. "You made me do this," she whispers pressing her forehead to his. "You made us do this to you. Didn't your father teach you that there are stronger beings out there? That you're not invincible?"

"You ain't either," he shakes his head. She sits back on her calves and sighs.

"Yeah," she nods. "I learned that today. I can't die yet, though. There are no Blackstones left to keep the gates shut. It's not an easy transition. Getting slammed to hell and then tossed back up. It took a lot out of me. The only reason I'm standing is because I'm not even a little human right now,"

"Why are you crying?" he asks her.

"I don't like killing people, Alpha Trey. Everyone has a purpose. Queen Mother was your mate and the mother of your daughter. Now they're not anything and I can feel them empowering me. She held so much promise as the heir to your throne. You made me do that and now you're going to do what I say because I haven't taken everything yet, have I? You still have a pack. You still have Tecia. All these lives rest on your shoulders," she puts her hands on his shoulders. "I don't want to take them away but I will if you don't give us what we want,"

"What do you want?" he chokes out.

"Belecov," she whispers. "Aren't you her buddy?"

"She'll know I'm wired," he shakes his head.

"So, you go to her. Tell her what I did in detail. Tell her what you feel. Tell her you are all in to give her what she wants. All I need is a location and I will give your aching soul relief," she places her hand on his chest. She gasps and pulls away. She cups his face. "The sooner, the better. The faster you get there the less time they'll be waiting for you,"

"What the f**k are you?" he cries.

"Merciful Death," she slides closer to him. "But they aren't," she looks up at her three devils. "They love this. They live for the taste of your lies. Everyone you've ever betrayed. Everything you've turned your back on. The more sinful you are, the stronger they get. And I like my Devils nice and strong,"

"You're not the good guy," he shakes his head. B.B. laughs and sits back to wipe her face. Her evil little laugh makes the Devils smile.

"This guy is funny," she pulls away and stands up. "I'm starving. We should wrap this up. We're done here,"

Dec and Ahsan follow her out. Carson holds out his cigarette box for me. I take a prerolled joint and put it between my lips. He lifts his pinky. A little flame gathers at the tip. I laugh leaning in to light the joint. He smirks and turns his attention to me.

"She's not going to let it go until she knows it's really you. You know that right?" he asks. I inhale deeply loving the burning sensation inside of me. I look up at him and nod. "I know it's you," he shrugs. "You're stubborn and f*****g dumb as hell. If you ever make her cry like that again, I will burn you to a f*****g crisp. We know where to get you a new body now. But it'll still hurt," he growls. "Want to see something fire?"

"Sure," I shrug. He snaps his fingers and the two bodies on the floor burst into flames. "Are all the bodies on fire?"

"All of them. I don't have to dig anymore," he shrugs.

"Turn it off," Treys screams.

He takes his jacket off trying to smother the flames but it's not working. Carson gently places his hand on my back and pushes me for the exit. By the time we get to the gates where the others are waiting for us the entire house is up in flames. Trey Goodwill is sitting on the lawn crumbling.

Lucien is holding B.B. as she cries. I hand her my joint and walk over to the other Hummer. I get her a little more now. Merciful Death feels everyone but she's not a lot different from my father or our grandfather. She's just a lot more tortured by what she is and she might be right. The only peace she'll ever have here is the peace she makes for herself. They're all gunning for us anyway. What's a few thousand more deaths to the tally?

"All right. f**k it," I sigh when the others pile in. "World Domination it is,"