Hallows: Den of Serpents

I'll Take Care of It

Hollywood Undead- Wild In These Streets

B.B.:

"See, there's nothing to it," Decarious says as he wraps a t-shirt around the front of his sniper.

"Do you ever ask why?" I say looking across at his target.

He's a lawyer. A pretty Asian man in a suit sitting at his desk working. My heart flutters a little as I think of an older Carson minding his own business unaware of the new Generation plotting to make room for their own nasty little ambitions. That would be the circle of life coming back around for the lives we lead.

"No," he smiles at me. "The only reason I need is money,"

"Oof," I laugh. "What are you waiting on?"

"His partner," he answers. After about half an hour, an older woman walks in with a stack of papers. She slams the papers on his desk and the two of them start to argue. "That's her,"

Decarious adjusts his body and takes a deep breath before letting it out slowly. He glances at me before he pulls the trigger. The gun bounces a little just before the man's head explodes. The bullet goes through him and hits her right between the eyes. My mouth falls open when I look back at him.

"Holy s**t, Dec. That was insane," I all but scream.

"Thank you," he smiles and begins to put his things away.

He puts the rifle into the black case and hands me the t-shirt. He prints something out of his phone case. It's a sticker with the Wu-Tang symbol on it. He slaps it on the weapons case and leaves it there. I laugh as we make our way down to the stolen car.

"That took like thirty minutes. Is that usually your window frame?"

"No, usually it's up close. A quick stab to the neck in a crowd. In and out in seconds. It's all time and location. There are times when I have to sit still for hours. The ones meant to look like accidents take up days. We have to plan for those but usually, they run smoothly, like this. We get coordinates and a time,"

"From who?" I ask. We pull up next to his car and get out. I climb in and begin to strap myself in. The other car is on fire as we drive away.

"No idea," he laughs.

"You just go with it?" I ask taking my gloves off.

"It's what I've been training for my whole life," he nods.

"How do you justify it?" I find myself asking out loud. He smiles.

"Justify it?" he shakes his head. "You live trapped in your head don't you, Lil mama?"

"You have no idea," I nod.

"Why would I need to justify it?" he asks. "How do people justify betrayal, indifference, and greed? Some people like watching people they think less of squirm. It's the same thing but instead of drawing it out for a lifetime, I take what I need an instant,"

"That's dark," I admit. "And scary,"

"My dad said somethin' bout you being Merciful Death," he casually brings up.

"Smooth," I nod. "Yeah, something like that,"

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm f****d," I sit back. "That even if I tried to walk away from killing someone, if they were suffering so deeply. Deep enough to welcome death, I'd give them the rest they need and it would have to be death fit for the soul,"

"How do you know?"

"What?"

"Which souls to choose? What souls are suffering?"

"You ever bump into someone and they give you the chills? One look at their face or a smell and you know deep in your gut there's something wrong with that person. You shake it off because, hello. They're like you. Another person but your instincts know when you're in front of a predator. Deep deep down, right?"

"No, never. Not until I met you. The moment you walked out of the darkness. Everyone knew they were in deep s**t,"

"Well, it's a little like that. Their emotions latch on to me. The longer I'm around them the more their emotions overwhelm me. To the point where they draw out the reaper. If the soul cries out enough. She'll answer and I'll cherish the soul until death,"

"You? Not her?"

"Me," I nod. "I've got three so far and they kind of weigh on me sometimes,"

"What do you mean? What do you take from them?"

"The slivers of what they gave up on in life. For my mom, it was her understanding. The way she loved on top of my own. Hers was a little maternal even while mine is more obsessive,"

"That's... terrifying," he laughs. I smile agreeing.

"Then there were the two reapers. The woman's need to make things right. Again, mine is more obsessive. I thought I was hard on myself before," I laugh. "That man," I place my hand on my chest. "He just wanted a home and he found it in her. There's a sense of self-fulfillment. I'm not sure what to do with that one. Some days I just want to-"

"What?" he asks when I don't finish that sentence. "Leave?"

"Not forever. Just to experience more, I guess. All three of the souls were always on the move. It's like an itch but it doesn't belong to me. If that makes sense,"

"You should try it. Go out there, look for s**t, collect lives, and help people. Isn't that what you want?"

"I'm not sure. I finally like it here. This is my home,"

"It's still going to be here when you come back. All of it. The house, the problems, the people. These are your people. You don't owe nobody nothin'. Those you do will be happy because you are,"

"You're weird," I smile at him.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," he chuckles.

We stop at the intersection that leads to his house. A car pulls up next to us on the left and rolls its window.

"Gas," I say.

"Hmm?"

"Gas, Dec. Press the gas!"

His foot slams down on the pedal as some guy holds up a gun and fires. The car shoots forward pulling to the right. I reach between his legs and push his seat back as. I climb over onto his lap and hit the gas and right us again. More bullets riddle the car as I shift gears.

"f**k," Dec groans behind me. I check my mirrors to see three cars following behind us. I make a hard left in one of the alleyways.

"Hold on. Can you grab my phone?" I ask making a right.

"Where?" he groans.

"s**t. It's in my blazer behind your seat,"

"I can't move that far back, Lil Mama,"

"Don't. Don't. I've got this,"

"Make a right," he instructs. I do as he asks. "My dad's at the church,"

"Okay," I know exactly where I am. I've been watching him for a while now and well, I'm very well acquainted with these streets now. I pull into the parking lot to find it empty. "f**k. There's no one here," I hit the brakes. They instantly block us in and that's the only exit. "Okay. What do I do? What do I do?" I ask myself. I turn around and reach for my bag. I scrummage through it and grab my phone and my gun. I press my body down against him when they start shooting again. "Okay. Okay. Stop!"

"That chu, Dec?" someone calls out.

"Miles," he shakes his head. "My girl is in here!"

"Lil white girl?" he asks.

"Yeah," he calls back as I dial for Lucien.

"Where the f**k are you?" he roars.

"Luc, Luc. Shh. Okay. Dec is shot. I have one gun. That's it and I think there are only like four bullets left because Stacy and I got high and we were target practicing in the gym earlier," I can hear the hysteria in my voice right now.

"Where?"

"We're at the church,"

"I'm on my way," I drop my phone and climb into the passenger seat to check how many bullets I actually have left. I'm trying really hard to calm my breathing.

"f**k. This is not what I had planned," he sighs.

"Do you have any weapons on you?"

"No, but there are spare mags in the glove compartment,"

"Oh, s**t. Perfect," I reach for one and reload my gun. "Okay, teamwork. I feel so much better now,"

"B.B. you need to stay down," he tries to reach for me with his bloodied hand.

"Question. If I bought you a new car would you be mad?"

"Yes," he growls. "Don't go out there, B.B. Please, Lil mama. Stay here with me,"

"Get out the car," Miles shouts and fires off a shot.

"Make it or break it time, Dec. I'm going to need you to trust me,"

"No," he grabs my arm. "Baby, don't. I can't-"

"If you can't trust me to take care of you, Dec. This isn't going to work. You're in danger and I've got this," I hold my gun up. "Dive in or walk away,"

I push the door open. They immediately start shooting at the door.

"Stop you motherfuckers," he growls. They don't stop.

"Stay down," I order him.

As soon as there's a pause I climb out of the car aiming my gun. I pull the trigger four times and hit three of them. There are six more. I spin around crouching behind the open door. I stand up again and aim for the two trying to close in on Dec right through the windshield and driver's window. I crouch down again putting my back to the front of the hatchback.

"You f*****g b***h," Miles shouts. "Will! Will!"

"You shot him," I growl. "You f*****g shot him! You f*****g asshole. I am going to f*****g tear you apart,"

"B.B. stay down!" Dec shouts from inside the car.

"He was your friend," I shout. "I warned you the first time we met. I f*****g warned you,"

"He was never my friend," Miles shouts. "Creepy ass motherfucker with his creepy ass daddy. You two white b***h. You and your freaky ass family gotta get the f**k out of here. You creepy fuckers don't belong with us. Fu-"

He stops talking when the roar of the Mustang turns the corner. The church is instantly surrounded.

"Stay down, B.B.," Dec shouts.

"Baby!" Lucien's voice calls out to me.

"Oh, thank f**k," Dec cries from inside the car.

"Don't kill Miles," I call back. "He's mine,"

The sound of bullets flying keeps me in place even as Decarious calls out for me. I stand up when they stop. The only sound in the late evening is the sound of my heels stepping over the shattered glass. Miles is laying on the ground holding his arm. Lucien comes over to me.

"Dec's in the car. Help him," I say. The others go over to him. Not Lucien. He stays here by my side. "We're taking him with us,"

"You read my mind," he says putting his foot on Miles's leg before looking over at me. "Are you okay?"

"No, this asshole shot Dec," I kick him.

"Just kill me," Miles clenches his jaw tight.

"Trey's on his way," Carson informs us. Miles shuts his eyes tightly and lets his head fall back against the car he's leaning on.

"It went right through his bicep. Hit his rib. It's f*****g up his lung," Dylan adds.

"Take him home. Vic, take care of him," Lucien orders.

"Estas bien, mamita?" Victor asks me.

"Yeah, help him," I shut my eyes tightly when Deck is taken out of the car. He groans loudly.

"Don't kill him," Dec calls out as he's taken to the other cars. "Baby, listen to me. Don't kill him. It ain't worth it,"

"He hurt you," I turn around to face him.

"I know and he shot at you, Lil Mama. I'll take care of it,"

"Sorry, kid. He's not making it past tonight," Lucien shakes his head. "You and I are going to have a really long talk about this. You need to worry about that. This is no longer any of your concern,"