Hallows: Den of Serpents

It's Going To Be Fun

The Offspring- The Kids Aren't Alright

B.B.:

As soon as I got my locker open someone slams it shut. I turn around to come face to face with none other than Shane Halestorm. I smile looking up at him. He has to be really mad because even he's not stupid enough to do this in the middle of a school day with Lucien, Carson, and Delilah around.

"You have three seconds to back the f**k up before I slam your f*****g face into her locker, you preppy b***h," Lucien comes out of nowhere. Shane doesn't move a muscle. Hmm, he really does love her. What is it about this girl? She got us both.

"You really want to do this?" Shane asks me. His tone is laced with anger. This is the first real reaction I've ever gotten out of him. Ever and I used to date him.

"Yes, I do," I nod. "I have the time now,"

"After what you did to Caleb and the others? You really think you can afford to f**k with me?" he sneers. I laugh.

"You can try to pin those things on me but I don't have a motive. You do. Three motives actually,"

"Don't do this, B.B. Someone is going to get hurt,"

"Over teenage rivalry?" I ask. "Are you mad because I'm coming at you from the front or would you have preferred I stabbed you in the back the way you did?"

"I've got a lot of pent-up s**t I don't know how to deal with right now, Bells,"

"Don't call me that. Call me that again and I will break your f*****g nose and maybe your two buck teeth," I shove him without really wanting to. My hands barely even make a smacking sound when they meet his chest. His eyes flare with anger at the mention of his teeth. He's always been sensitive about them. There's nothing wrong with them, per se. They're just slightly longer than the rest of his teeth. He has a nice smile overall but the golden boy has to have something to feel insecure about. "I hear you're having trouble competing. There aren't enough players,"

"That's not your business," he frowns. If he can't play, he's going to lose his spot. Carson made it very clear that it would be bad for business and Delilah hired some people.

"No, it's not but it is funny Mr. first-round pick. You can't go to USC if you can't show them those sick moves of yours and you kind of have a lot,"

"Don't make me hate you," he leans in. "Don't do this. You don't even like me. You never have,"

"Why did you ask me if you knew that?" I ask. His nostrils flare. "Did you think I was going to make you famous if you failed? I'd be okay with that. You were pretty enough to be a trophy husband. Stay-at-home dad one day. Ugly divorce at forty. We both break ways and do whatever we want. Full life. Is that how you saw it?"

"Is that what you wanted?"

"Maybe," I shrug. "I just didn't want to be my dad, but as it turns out. I am and now that my sister is back and taking care of her s**t. I can sit back and let her take lead. I have to occupy my time somehow,"

"You can do whatever you want to me. I was the one that lied to you. I went after her. I wanted to hurt you the way you were hurting me. Leave Rose out of this. This is all on me," he looks away. Enough for me to see her standing behind Lucien.

"Have you ever told Rosy that you begged me to forgive you the next morning? That you had flowers and candy. That you cried like a f*****g b***h on your knees?" I ask him. His eyes look me over.

"You what?" she asks from behind Lucien. Shane's nose fully flares and his eyes dilate, zeroing in on me.

"I still have the footage on my security camera at home," I tap his chest. "You should also tell her about your fights with Lucien and Carson. Your late-night texts for the following three months," I pull the printouts from my binder and hold them out. He tries to take them from me but she beats him to it. "It looks like you guys have a lot to talk about,"

He drops his hand and turns around to face her. She's going through the messages I never replied to. Lucien holds out his hand and I take it. She takes the papers and smacks them against his chest.

"Why now?" he asks as she power walks away.

"I'm doing you one last favor, Halestorm. When it's over, you'll thank me,"

"These guys want on the team," Lucien points at the six guys behind him. "They'll give you the numbers. They know what they're doing,"

"I don't need your f*****g handouts," he growls without looking away from me.

"We're just taking care of our own," Delilah says as she walks by with Victoria and Natalie. "You do belong to us. Rosa Delioncourt doesn't. You don't need her anymore. Ask her who left the locks in your house open,"

His face blanks when his eyes meet mine. His hand wraps around my wrist tightly.

"No," he shakes his head.

"It doesn't feel good does it?" I ask. "Play along. See how far she's willing to go,"

"I'll kill her. You know that," he says tightly.

"No, you won't. Kill her and the rest of your family pays for it. You're good at faking it. Go apologize. Tell her what you really wanted. She'll forgive you. I'm sure of it. It's part of her assignment,"

"Walk up on my girl like that again and I'll f**k you up, Shane. I don't care what she does to you. You take it," Lucien growls at him. Shane averts his gaze.

"How do you know?" he asks.

"Del has people on the inside. She was captive for a long time. If you see Nat or Stacy doing some crazy s**t, back them up or look the other way," Lucien smacks him on the back hard enough for it to echo over the chatter of the other students in the hall.

I watch him walk away. It's better for her to believe I'm after her for a personal reason. It won't alert the others. It won't give us away and the lady we let go last night can go back to her life while she continues to unknowingly feed us information. I thought I was going to have trouble doing this but it feels fairly easy and guilt-free. If anything her pretending to be the victim infuriates me more than anything before this. I can handle the snake, I don't like damsels. Not after everything with Terra. Honey trapping is the worst strategy they can bring to the table. Hallows don't do damsels and I know Rosa isn't one.

"You okay?" Carson meets us in the cafeteria. He already has our lunch. I take a seat, pushing my food around the plate.

"Girls are f*****g mean," I say dropping the fork.

"Yeah," he grins. He tips my chin playfully. "Bitches, man," I laugh remembering when I said those exact same words to him not so long ago.

"Bitches," Delilah takes my plate with pizza and replaces it with a salad. I smile when she takes my utensils out of my purse. "I need your help with something,"

"Really?" I ask taking my fork when she offers it.

"I'm having trouble with the morality of it and I hear you're the one to talk to about that,"

"f**k," the guys both say at the same time. I laugh.

"Is it going to be bloody?" I ask.

"I hope not," she sighs heavily. "I met someone and he's a complete piece of s**t but I love him like that. He is the Lucien to my B.B.,"

"Whoa," Lucien shakes his head. "That's not a good thing,"

"Yeah," I agree. "Okay, where is he?"

"In purgatory,"

"That's what you were talking to Holly about? You know she likes you right?"

"Oh, we're going love her," she smiles fondly. "She smells like salted caramel. She's tiny," she bites her lower lip before looking up at me. "I get it now,"

"I'm scared," Stacy whispered.

"What is he?"

"He's a demon. Like James. Only, he's older and scarier and not a servant,"

"It's not Chance is it?" I ask feeling my chest clench.

"No, Chance is his nephew," she looks me over. "How do you know Chance?"

"Who is Chance?" Lucien asks with a low growl.

"He's the demon that dad made a deal with. He has beef with his own dad and wants to kill him for the keys to the kingdom," I shrug.

"Did he ask you to help him with that?" Delilah asks.

"What? No. He walked me home after dad went back to hell,"

"You've spoken to him directly? Like you can stand to be in his presence?" she asks.

"Do you mean that thing when he was standing in front of me I felt like my life was just a scrap on the floor even if I were to dominate the entire earth by the time I'm forty-five?" I ask. She opens her mouth and then shuts it with a clack of her teeth.

"How long were you in his presence for?" she asks.

"I don't know. Ten, fifteen minutes but I felt like s**t after. I had to sneak into Carson's room that night,"

"Hmm," Carson laughs.

"Why is that important?" I ask.

"Chance is- I don't know what he is but I do know he's the antichrist. Spawn of the Devil. Lucifer Junior. Heir to the throne. The biggest piece of s**t in the multi-verse. The big bad," she shrugs.

"He didn't have the big bad vibes to me," I agree.

"Oh, s**t," she rolls her eyes. "I draw the line right there. You are not going to add anti-christ to your harem of assholes,"

"None of my boyfriends are assholes. If they're mean to you ask yourself. What did you do to deserve it?"

"b***h, you're playing with us, right?" Stacy laughs.

"No, she's not," Delilah sighs.

"He scares me. I'm not easily scared. I think it would be in our best interest if we're on his good side. If he is the big bad. Don't f**k with him. He has our dad, Del, and mom. I get that he has them enslaved or whatever but they made their choice. Dad asked me to stay out of it. I'm sure he said the same thing to you,"

"You're just going to sit there and let him use them?"

"Mhm, if we f**k with the dude that lets us see our dead parents once in a while and he takes them away. I will be f*****g pissed, Delilah. Don't f**k with the scary soul-sucking monster. You're going to get us all killed,"

"I second that motion," Natalie raises her hand.

"Dad can take care of himself. Mom is with him now. They got each other. Now, if you're going to summon Chance's uncle you might have to really think about what you're doing. I would never unleash Lucien on anything or anyone because I know exactly what he's capable of. Well, in theory. I know Carson is nuts but I've been told the one to be scared of is Luc,"

"Definitely," she nods. "I can handle Ash,"

"His name is Ash?" Stacy smirks. "Is he hot? Like demonic and s**t?"

"He's a guy?" I ask.

"I said uncle,"

"Right a man," I nod.

"Yes, B.B. He's a man," she sits back and crosses her arms over her chest. "Well, he's a male demon. Wouldn't call him a man. Exactly,"

"What is he going to do in the world of the living?"

"I don't know. Demon in the flesh s**t," she shrugs.

"Is he going to live with us?"

"Probably,"

"Does he like animals?"

"What?"

"I don't play with him a lot but I don't want to wake up to a dead Timothy one morning and your demon boyfriend covered in blood and guts,"

"He's not going to eat your cat. He's going into a mortal body,"

"James has a mortal body," I nod.

"And does he eat cats?"

"He likes his liver raw," Lucien answers her.

"Look, he's-" she stops and sits back. "He's f*****g smart as hell. Literally. He likes the idea of ice cream but he's never had it. He grew up in hell. His older brothers are all a bunch of assholes. His parents don't give a f**k about him. If it gets out of hand we just put him back,"

"You mean kill him?" I laugh.

"Yeah," she nods. "I just really miss him,"

"b***h, you're going to make me cry," Stacy sniffles.

"What did James say?" I sigh.

"James is getting everything I need for the summoning but I need you to help me with the spell. I need a reaper's essence,"

"Holy s**t," I whisper shout at her. "I should f*****g say no. I should say no and tell you to go f**k yourself,"

"B.B." she laughs.

"f**k my life," I groan.

"Why?" Carson asks.

"When you use the essence from any hallow, you know you're summoning something f*****g insane like Black Death or cursed spirits. But needing a reaper essence specifically means something absolutely evil," I inform them.

"I wouldn't say absolutely evil. I'd say that about Lucien though,"

"Thank you," Lucien smirks.

"Dilly, if he kills one of us in a blind rage. You're going with him," I stab my fork into my salad.

"You are the greatest person on the face of the earth," she grins.

"First thing we've agreed on since your return," Carson scoffs. "We're going to regret this, Blackstone,"

"That's how we know it's going to be fun. I look at all of you guys and say those exact same words. I haven't yet so. There's hope for Ash and Del," I shrug.

"That hurt as much as it felt good," Lucien sighs. "I'm going to get you something to drink,"