Hallows: Den of Serpents

Mine Sleeps In My Closet

B.B.:

The four of us arrived at the same time Ray is pulling into the driveway. He's holding a duffle bag and a paper bag from Whitmore Vineyards. Wine. That's cute. He watches as the guys shove Miles into the house. Lucien wrestles with him a little before he finally pushes him into the house.

"Where do you want him?" Carson asks. Ray looks at me amused.

"Gas chamber in my lab," I whisper. Ray laughs. I press the button on the bracelet Ahsan gave me. "It's open,"

"Pastor," Carson greets him.

"Carson," Ray gives him a nod.

"You're early," I tell him.

"I'm glad I am," he smirks. "Are you all right? I heard what happened,"

"I'm fine,"

"What Dec did was dangerous," he sighs. "I apologize."

"He didn't do anything wrong. We were just hanging out," if anything I'm the one at fault. I killed Jamal despite the guys telling me to let it go.

"Agree to disagree. Let's inspect the damage," he gives me a nod.

The two of us walk inside. Decarious is standing in the family room with no shirt on. I didn't get a good look at him the other night. That's not what either of us needed but looking at him now, Ugh. There's a huge bruise on his left arm and another one on his ribs. I go over to him to inspect the damage as his father had put it. I take a step back and look at him. He looks annoyed with me but I honestly don't care. I wrap my arms around him without saying a word. His dad clears his throat and I step away.

"You good?" his booming voice asks. Decarious tenses up and gives him a nod. Ray tosses him the duffle bag. "Get changed,"

"Dad-"

"You've done enough to embarrass us both," he growls.

"My room is the first door," I say.

"Dad-" he tries again but Ray shuts him up with a single look. Dec sighs and rushes up the stairs. I totally get why his devil looks just like this man.

"Do me next," Stacy raises her hand. "I got a C on my test,"

"What subject?" Ray asks.

"History,"

"You should be ashamed of yourself. Go upstairs and write me a report covering all the material on that test. I want it by the end of the day tomorrow," he orders.

"Y-yes, sir," she runs up the stairs to her room.

"What?" I ask confused.

"Stacy might be a little more broken than we think," Natalie laughs and shakes her head.

"Master Raymond," James walks out of the kitchen. "Always early,"

"James," Ray smiles at him and offers the paper bag. "You're a father of a s**t ton of kids,"

"I am, sir. Glad to have some adult company," James smirks before he looks at me and winks.

"Pastor Addams and I will be in my lab. Is Damien still-"

"Dec!"

"Am I in the wrong room?" he asks.

I step around Ray to look up the stairs. Dec is standing in my doorway with his duffle bag. I rush up and walk inside to see Damien pulling on his pants and my sister in my bed. She starts laughing like a maniac.

"You can use Carson's room. Just don't touch his things. He has a whole thing," I tell Decarious. He nods and walks into Carson's room down the hall. "Seriously?"

"What part?" she asks.

"My room, asshole. Change the bedding. All of it, sicko. Finish getting dressed. I need your help,"

"Me?" she asks.

"No. Not you. Him. Why would I need your help?" I roll my eyes. They both laugh again "I should f*****g throat punch you, Delilah,"

When I get back downstairs, Ray is sitting in the family room with Timothy on his lap. He looks up at me with a gentle smile on his face. He's a cat person. Of course, he is. So are my other devils.

"Sisters," he smirks. I roll my eyes.

"How are you feeling today?" I ask.

"Better than I have in a while," he admits. "What did you give me?"

"A few things. I can't completely neutralize your symptoms without knowing what I'm working with. Damien and I will be running some tests,"

"Damien Stockholm?" he asks.

"Yeah, do you know him?"

"Yes, I killed his father," he says playing with Timothy's ears.

"I say we let him rot," Damien laughs as he adjusts his glasses as he rounds the doorway from the stairs. "What is it you like to say to dumb sheep like you? God works in mysterious ways. Not so mysterious now, hmm?"

"Damien," Ray greets him.

"If this is what you need help with, no," he says.

"Come on, D. You just gave it to my sister in my bed," I shrug. Lucien and Carson laugh behind him.

"s**t my girlfriend says," Lucien smirks.

"I couldn't help myself. She's hot and not in the living anime villainess way like you," he shrugs. Delilah throws his jacket at him. He laughs.

"Don't call her that," Carson growls. "d**k,"

"I'm not helping him,"

"Vamos, it's not for him," Victor says from the library. He comes over and puts his arm around Damien's shoulders. "You owe me a favor. We'll call it even,"

"Are you f*****g kidding me?" Damien shoves him.

"No,"

"Vic, he killed my dad,"

"You kill my mom,"

"She was suffering,"

"Te dije, Dami. Dejalo atraz. That s**t is gonna eat you alive, man," Victor taps his cheek.

"Okay, you can back away now," I say getting between them. "You already touched my sister, asshole,"

"Uh-Victor?" Delilah asks.

"Huh?" Victor asks confused.

"I could kill him," Delilah hisses.

"We're not doing this right now," I sigh. "Damien, I'll show you my lab. You're not helping Ray. You're helping me. Give me your phone,"

"Not for another two weeks," he shakes his head.

"It's finished now. If I work on it more, we're going to have the FBI on our asses. My dad went a little wild with it when he was here,"

"Does the kid know?" Damien asks me.

"No," Ray answers him.

"I want to be the one to tell him," Damien declares. I can't help myself. It's Eve and maybe a lot of me. My hand lashes out. I wrap it around his throat and push him back until his back is against the wall.

"You're in my house," I say calmly. "You don't get to put conditions on favors. Not when we had to go into your house to clean it up cause you couldn't get your s**t together. I love you, D but don't f**k with me. I have a very short fuse. You're going to help me. You're not going to say a word about it and when the time comes you're going to finish this. Got it?"

"You're kind of adorable when you're angry. Get your snake off me, please. She's not cute at all," he nods. I pull back, looking him over.

"Eve," she unwraps herself from around him but not before she bares her fangs at him. I look her over to see she's huge now. Not in length but in width. Her head is almost the size of mine. Not easily concealed under my clothes anymore. "Go see if he's okay,"

She slithers up the stairs and heads toward Carson's room. She looks like a f*****g anaconda now. The others watch as her tail disappears in the darkness at the top of the stairs. Where did she even come from? I feel like I shouldn't have missed her threatening him.

"She's getting really pretty," Ahsan says.

"Right?" I laugh taking a step back. "I'm a little alarmed by how big she is. That's not in the books,"

"She's healthy," Ray interjects. "Feeding her properly that first year is imperative. It defines your power. Since you're also a reaper, expect her to get much much bigger over the years. You two need to find your snakes a den. Somewhere dark and secluded so that they can shed and do whatever it is snakes do on their own time,"

"She sleeps under my bed," I say.

"Not good enough,"

"Mine sleeps in my closet," Delilah says.

"Is that why you don't go in there?"

"And disrupt her sleeping? Despite what I did from the chandelier, I am not suicidal," she shakes her head. "You have an hour until dinner. Stop wasting it and don't ever put your hands on him again. I call dibs,"

"Dibs?" Damien laughs.

"Dibs," she nods. "What did Trey say, Luc?"

"Go play doctor with the pastor, baby. We'll talk about this later," Lucien presses a kiss to the back of my neck.

"Dive In is our song," Carson growls. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up with the threat in his voice. I can't even bring myself to turn around and look at him. Dec must have told him what I said in the car. Possessive ass. "That's two in one night. B.B. I don't ask for a lot,"