Hallows: Den of Serpents

Does What Hurt?

Architects- a new moral low ground

B.B.:

Decarious is sitting at a small writing desk in his room. He has a headset on as he does his homework completely engrossed in it. I don't make a sound until I take a seat on his bed. Before I could fully settle myself in, there's a gun pointed at my face. His expression goes from startled to sorry almost instantly.

"Belladonna," he says lowering the gun. "You should knock,"

"If I wanted to make an entrance, I would have," I smile at him.

"How'd you get in here?" he looks around to see that there's nothing

"Your dad let me in," I answer. He takes the headphones off his head and sits back.

"My dad? You sure it was my dad?"

"Yeah, dads like me. Believe it or not. It's my sister who has a crazy reputation," I laugh.

"You didn't f**k up a bunch of rich boys at your school then?"

"I did, but not without reason," I get up to get closer to him. He's working on trigonometry. There are a couple of mistakes on his paper. How he got the right answer to some of them is beyond me. The formulas are wrong.

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah," I nod. He groans.

"This isn't for everyone," I say taking his iPad and the pen to show him where he went wrong. "But it can be taught correctly. My mom was bad at math on her own but not when my dad was around,"

"Is that what you came here to do? Help me with my homework?" he asks looking me over. "Didn't peg you for a Jordan's type of girl,"

"I'm not. I met a girl this morning and I kind of fell in love with them. This is such a pretty shade of red. Red velvet was one of my mom's favorite reds,"

"How is she doing?"

"She's dead," I hand him the iPad back. He doesn't even flinch.

"My dad told me what you are,"

"Oh, yeah? What's your take on it?"

"You look the part," he smirks. Aww, man. That's a really pretty smirk. How is he this pretty? "Demon eyes,"

"I get that a lot," I laugh.

"He told me about the others," he adds.

"Good,"

"I don't know how I feel about sharing,"

He reaches for the end of my coat and pulls me to him until I'm standing between his legs. His left hand loosely wraps around my thigh as he looks up at me. His jade-green eyes look at me just as tormented as the rest of us. There's a deep sense of familiarity and my favorite part. Distrust. It's not going to be easy to show him that this is real. For now, much like I've decided in the past, Dec doesn't give a f**k about what happens so as long as he's having a good time. That's fine. I can be patient. These boys are a handful. It comes with the territory.

"I have a big issue with it myself," I admit. "It can be difficult but at the end of the day, I can't bring myself to regret it,"

He closes his eyes when I scratch the back of his head with my new nails. He smells like castor oil and talc. Nothing that's too overwhelming. It's subtle and inviting. His skin is flawless and soft to the touch. Looking around, I can already tell my room is going to drive him crazy. Everything is clean, polished, and organized. Even the desk. There is a designated spot for everything. When I set the iPad down he moved it to where it belonged and lined the pencil with the other writing utensils at the top of his desk. Carson and Delilah are going to love him, much to my dismay.

"I'm not a team player,"

"You're not anything yet. For now, I want us to be just this. Us. We can teach you what you are at your pace. What you choose to do with that information afterward is completely up to you,"

His thumb is going back at the crease where my thigh ends and my ass cheek begins. It's a gentle caress. He's barely touching me but my body is alive with the heat coming off of him.

"I can't stop thinking about you," he pushes me back half a step so that he can stand up. I look up meeting his intense stare. "Is it just about the feed then?"

"No, I've-" I can't hide it, can I? He's going to figure me out eventually. One of the other guys is going to tell him how nuts I really am. How invested I am in all of them. It's exhausting but it's also exciting and fun. "I haven't left your side for some time now. I'm creepy and obsessive and I have unlimited sources to get whatever the hell I want when I want it,"

"And I'm one of those things?" he asks pinching my chin to keep me from looking away.

"You are. From the moment my eyes landed on you in that clearing,"

"You did that for me?"

"I wish I could say yes but I wasn't there for you. It was a coincidence,"

"I don't believe in coincidences, lil mama. I believe god has a plan for all of us. He put us both there that night for a reason,"

I love that he sees things that way. It's a lot less aggressive than Ahsan's beliefs. A little more devoted than Carson's. What is it about me that makes them overlook all the little red flags? Clearly, there's something really really wrong with me but it doesn't stop them from taking what they want. If anything it makes things worse. The little red flags just invite them to want more. They lead them into the snake's den instead of running away, they stay. The thought makes my heart sing and completely grosses me out at the same time.

"You're weird choir boy," I smile.

"You're a weird little white girl," he smirks. "I ain't ever been interested in one before but you. I swear to all that's holy that I knew you were the one from the moment you walked out of the darkness," the door shuts and the lights dim on their own as he leans into me. I place my hands on his chest and let him lead me back toward the bed. My first initial thought is how the hell did Ray miss how strong his abilities are? But then again, he's not feeling too well. "Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?" I ask falling back onto the bed.

"When you feed off of me,"

He puts his knee between my legs making me push my body up with the edge of the bed as he hovers over me. I lick my lips feeling the heat coming off of his skin. I haven't even touched him yet and he's steaming already. I take a deep breath to take some of it in. My mouth instantly waters with the taste of him. Eve is close I feel myself slipping into the excitement of the snake's darkness.

"Not unless you want it to," I say, reaching up to touch him. As soon as my hand touches the nape of his neck an electric charge ripples through my body. He groans feeling it as well. His eyes go wide when Eve slithers around his body. "Her name is Eve,"

Heavy darkness floods the room. I look around until my eyes land on the closet where it's standing. His devil is different from Carson's and Ahsan's. The man steps out of the darkness to stand next to us. He's standing there dressed in all black. Black jeans, black t-shirt, black baseball cap. Eyes, two cerulean blue flames. Black horns rip out of the cap, his tail wagging behind him. Decarious's devil is the image of his father.

Carson's biggest fear was being rejected by me, so much the devil inside of him took my form. Ahsan's biggest fear is how far he's willing to take things. He's afraid he'll reach the point of no return so much he's manifested his devil with his own face and the wrath of his faith. Decarious, sweet lonely Decarious fears becoming the spitting image of his father.

How are we so innocently different but painfully the same? Guided by the same intentions and motivations of our fathers before us. Moving forward with our own corruption and darkness tucked deep in our hearts. It has to be more than a coincidence, right? Maybe my devils are right. Maybe there is something bigger than us at work here. A plan and we're right at the start, preparing to walk this path together.

It sounds like bullshit. I sound naive even. A fantasy or an excuse for accepting just how utterly wrong we all are. Because we are wrong. We're so f*****g wrong the only place that can ever accept us is hell. In all honesty, I don't want to be right anymore. It doesn't matter. If there is a heaven, I don't want it if it means I have to let any of them go.

"Please, kiss me," I say when his devil reaches for Eve. She doesn't hesitate to go with him the same way Decarious doesn't hesitate to press his full lush lips to mine. The spark crackles around us again.

"I want all of you, but that's not what I need right now," he says against my lips.

"That's okay," I smile looking up into those beautiful jade-green gems of us. "I want all of you too but right now, I have to take care of you. The heat you're radiating can kill you. Take whatever you need right now. We'll figure out the rest together,"

"I'm sorry," the regret in his voice takes me by surprise.

"Don't apologize. Never apologize for this,"

He takes both my hands in one of his as he zips down my hoodie. I don't miss the expert way he takes my belt off and undoes my front zipper with one hand. My shoes fall to the floor with low thuds as he slides his hand under my shirt. I'm not wearing a bra. I never do when I wear hoodies. A little smirk pulls at his lips and his eyes land on mine knowingly.

"I'm going to need you to take all this off," he says shakily. The heat in his is alive with my presence. His skin is flushed.

I don't hesitate to sit up and take my coat and the hoodie off. He pulls me into him and unzips my jeans from behind and pulls them away. He smiles as he pushes them down my thighs. He doesn't bother to remove them from around my ankles as he pushes my t-shirt up over my breasts. His warmth is flooding into me in waves.

With one yank he pulls my jeans off and settles over me. I want to get a better look but the feeling is a little overwhelming. I can feel the hotness of his emotions pouring into me from every direction. I close my eyes trying to keep my thoughts coherent. I have to take a lot of him into me right now and if I panic, I can hurt him.

"f**k," I groan when he pushes inside of me. "Decarious,"

"You're-" he groans pulling out of me and then roughly pushing back in. My hands are once again pinned over my head again as he rocks his hips in a circular motion. I pull my legs up and wrap them around his waist needing him to go deeper. "I don't want to hurt you,"

"You won't," I reassure him, rocking my hips upward to meet his thrusts. "Whatever you need. I need it too. Please,"

He dips his head into my shoulder and begins to thrust faster and harder. I can feel him growing inside of me. He wasn't even all the way hard yet. I can feel the way each thrust stretches me to welcome him more and more. I've felt a little extra cold as of late and now I can feel warmth spreading through me properly.

This is different. He's not touching me to make a connection. He's not here with me at all. He's been hurt, exiled, and betrayed most of his life. I feel it and I am more and more aware of how hard it's going to be to get the man to trust any of us. This feels good and it's all just pleasure to him. He doesn't want me to touch him because he doesn't want to believe the truth. He's not ready to let me in but his need to take what he wants outweighs the warning that will forever echo in the back of his head.

Will she betray me like the rest of them have? Will she leave me? I can relate to that Decarious. I can relate to that on a deep and intimate level. You have no f*****g idea how toxic our relationship is going to get from here on but I'll never leave. I can't and I hope you feel the same way. I want us to destroy one another so much that no one else will ever want us. The seven of us we belong together, Until Death do us part.