Hallows: Den of Serpents

Worth It

Pantera- Walk

Delilah:

The ballroom is the biggest room in our house. It leads out into the garden. The ceiling is made up of Tiffany stained glass and iron arches that hold up the black chandeliers that give a very elegant atmosphere to any event. Stacy made it all a little Gothic with cobwebs and nets. There are coffins and medieval props all over. Everyone is having a great time. Everyone except for my sister who is moping over what looks like an argument with Jimenez. He just had to f**k up her night early didn't he?

"What's wrong with her?" I ask Lucien.

"Dec's not here and Jimenez told her he's off to spictopia for two weeks in the morning,"

"You do know my sister and I are half what he is, right?" I laugh.

"Yeah, I know you two are little half spics," he smirks. I bump him with my elbow.

"Why couldn't he wait to tell her," I huff.

"It's strategy," he smirks.

"To make her miserable?" I ask.

"So she clings to him all night," he says pointing at them. He hands her a drink. She takes it without taking her eyes off him.

"What a d**k,"

"Mhm," he nods. "Carson is going to be pissed,"

"What about you?"

"Vic and I get her for two weeks," he shrugs. "The devils are needier. Their need to dominate everything makes them clingy. It's why they fight,"

"You're just okay with sharing the love of your life like this?"

"It's what she wants and like she said. It's not always going to be this way. Ahsan is going to be the first to bounce. Then Jimenez and then Dec. Victor might stick around for a while because he genuinely loves her. All of her but he's going to want to pass this on to someone that will make his crow stronger. That one is going to hurt her. He gets under her skin as much as Carson does,"

"What about you two?" I ask.

"Never gonna happen. Until death does us part," he smiles at me.

"White girl!" the voice sends deep anxiety down my back as Leticia Brown walks into our home with a group of girls. I can only describe the feeling as nails scratching down a chalkboard. B.B. lights up like the greatest thing in the world just walked in.

"What the f**k?" Stacy stands up and comes over to my side.

"Come on, girls. She's making friends," Lucien laughs.

"I'm her friend," Stacy growls. "Hold my drink,"

"Oh, s**t," I laugh taking it.

I watch as B.B. leads the outsiders toward the throne where Natalie is sitting on Marco's lap. He's whispering something into her ear and Natalie is eating it up. Several black shoe boxes topped with bows are set in front of her. Natalie gets up and thanks all the girls and their dates properly as my sister introduces them to her.

Stacy pushes between them all. It would be adorable if we didn't know that she could kill all those girls if she wanted to. They're all significantly taller than she is. When she looks up at my sister as B.B. introduces her, a look of sheer adoration crosses her features. She doesn't even look at Johnny like that.

"That doesn't worry you?" I ask drinking whatever is in Stacy's cup. It's rum. Just rum.

"No, it would worry me if Stace didn't love her as much as she does. She f****d up everyone that hurt her. It was f*****g beautiful," he smiles with pride.

"Who's playing tonight?" I ask when the black sheets are pulled off the organ at the end of the ballroom.

"Natalie asked B.B. to play Toccata for her tonight. It was literally the only gift she asked for. Everything else is just your sister wanting to have a themed party,"

"Sounds like her," I laugh.

"-depends, Vic. What do I get for it?" Damien and Victor catch our attention.

"Serio?" Vic glares at him. "You're gonna be like that?"

"Super serio," Damien nods. Lucien and I laugh. Vic crosses his arms over his chest.

"Que quieres?"

"I need you to get B.B. to New City so that she can take a look at the medical books in the research building. I've asked her but she doesn't think it'll help because it's not human-oriented,"

"And?"

"And I want you to convince her that we need to use Miles as a test subject," he adds.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Lucien interjects. "What do you want?"

"Damien has our hallow journals and he doesn't want to share them with us," Vic states.

"Give him the f*****g journals," Lucien shakes his head.

"You are a f*****g crow and you don't tell me what the f**k I need to be doing. I'm more than willing to share if you give me what I want," he shrugs Lucien off. I stop Luc from reacting. Even with B.B.'s energy inside of him, he's no match for Damien while he's at his peak. Fully fed.

"Don't. If he hurts you all these people will die if he and B.B. fight," I warn him. "And she will kill him if he lays a finger on you,"

"This is for Dec," Damien adds.

"Except it isn't, you f**k," Victor disagrees. "This is about you and your little weird doctor s**t,"

"You mean me wanting to cure one of the most dangerous cancers in the world? Yeah," Damien nods.

"Call it what you want, animal," he says animal in Spanish. "This isn't about helping anyone,"

"You wouldn't be so pissy about it if it were her idea,"

"Wrong," Lucien mimics a buzzard. "Vic is actually the only one that stops her crazy ass from doing f****d up s**t like that. Personally, I'd like to see if she can do it,"

"I'm not taking her home so you can convince her to do some f****d up s**t like this," Victor growls. "You can suck my d**k, Damien," he slaps the cup out of Damien's hand. "Pendejo,"

"You're an asshole," I say when he just smiles at his friend. He takes my cup and tosses it over his shoulder.

"And?" he asks. I laugh when he pulls me into him.

"The show is about to start," Lucien points at my sister as she makes her way to the black organ.

"If that's what you into, Luc. I don't care if you watch," he smirks. Lucien glares at him annoyed.

"I meant my girl," he looks us both over. "And neither of you are my type. Not enough curves,"

"f**k off," I flip him off. He grins as he makes his way through the crowd. "I actually want to watch this. My sister learned this song on seven instruments for our dad and she's really good at it,"

"I'll meet you in the pantry," he whispers and walks away.

I almost follow him until I see B.B. swing the trench coat back and take a seat in front of the huge pipe organ my dad promised he'd fix for her. He died before he got a chance to do it but I think he finally got around to it when he came back. That or he got James to fix it for her. The iconic sound of Tocata echoes in the high ceilings making everyone cheer. I laugh stepping away from the crowd little by little. As she gets into it, I notice something happening to the crowd. I look around to see that they're all in some sort of trance.

"What the f**k?" I whisper to myself. I reach for the person next to me. Despite the hard tug, he doesn't look away. "Lucien! Stop her!"

He looks back at me and finally notices what's going on.

"Carson," he shouts. The three of us push through the crowd trying to get to her. Some of our guests are starting to faint.

"B.B.," I call out. As I get closer I can hear her crying.

"Stop, Rem!" she screams.

"B.B.," I call out again.

"Help me!" she screeches but her hands don't stop. "Stop!"

"B.B.," Carson reaches her first. "Baby, you have to stop,"

"I can't. It's not me," she cries out. "Please, please, help,"

"f**k," I look around to find a guy dressed in a trench coat. He's holding a bat. I take it from him.

"No," Lucien growls from somewhere in the crowd.

"She's going to kill them," I call back. "I'm so sorry, B.B.,"

"Do it. Please, please," she begs. I swing the bat hitting her on the side of her head. Her body swings and hits the keys with a loud pound and the music stops.

"Oh, come on," a voice sends chills up my spine. "She was getting to the good part,"

"Get her out of here," I tell Lucien when he gets to me.

"No," he shakes his head when we look up to see the Reaper standing next to the throne. Natalie, Dylan, and Marco are passed out at his feet.

"Dobryy vecher," the man greets us. Rosa is standing behind him. She looks angry.

"Alexie," I say.

"You are a very stubborn little girl," he says in his deep Russian accent. "Not nearly as difficult as your sister but just as infuriating,"

"What did you do to her?" Carson roars.

"The only thing little Belladonna Blackstone loves more than all the c**k she surrounds herself with is the darkness inside of her," he laughs. "As Reapers, we have access to all the darkness, and if not trained properly. Another can use it against you,"

"You came to the wrong f*****g place, buddy," I shake my head. "This is my house and the darkness here belongs to me,"

"Is that right?" he laughs. "Prove it,"

"James, protect these humans. I'm giving in,"

"My lady," James appears behind me.

He claps and the other demons appear around the ballroom. A thick cloud of black fog covers them as I step up onto the organ. I hold my hand out inviting my snake to come to me. I look down at Lucien and give him a nod. He picks up my sister and hands her over to Victor. He lets out a low-pitched whistle and the crows established around the room begin to move.

"Daddy," Rosa steps back when Carson melts away into the shadows.

"Daddy," the three of us laugh humorlessly.

My viper easily glides over the fog to get to me. Her huge mouth opens up as she launches herself at me. I cry out when her giant fangs pierce through my body. She pulls away to wrap herself around me.

The sound of the purgatory sky cracking open booms in my ears. Ash's dark laughter fills my ears as the venom of the viper pumps through my veins poisoning my soul. The screams of the souls trapped in eternal damnation echo in my ears as the memories of the two of us cutting them down one after the other rush around the room like reels. I laugh feeling like myself again.

"Otoydi, Printsessa," he pushes Rosa behind him.

"I'm not going to hurt her," I tell him. "No, she belongs to my sister. Body and soul. I don't think she'll mind if I take you off her little to-do list. You owe me two years of her youth,"

"Speak as if you can take me," he scoffs. I laugh.

"Oh, Alexie. You've never come across a viper like me. I trained in the deepest part of hell with one of the strongest f*****g demons to exist and if I don't get you now, he will. His resurrection is in preparation. You and all of your little minions should be praying for the holy one to deliver you from his wrath,"

"Now?" Lucien asks.

"Now," I nod.

Crows block the exits when he tries to run out through the garden exit. Rosa screams when he pushes her behind him again. Carson raises his hand shutting off all the lights in the room. Darkness covers all the windows as he bends the shadows with a single flick of his wrist.

"I am but the single head of the hydra," Alexie scoffs. "You kill me and two more will take my place,"

"Is that a line from Captain America?" Lucien cackles.

"Jörmungandr," I call out to my snake.

He moves to look me in the eyes. I reach out placing my hand on his giant face. He bows low so that I can step onto his head. The golden snake expands to its full size. Rosa screams as I look down at the two of them. Lucien pulls back the crows blocking the doorway. Alexie pushes Rosa through and looks back at me like he can't believe this is happening. I crouch down with a smile on my face.

"What have you done?" he asks me looking at me with complete horror on his expression.

"Nothing yet. I'm gonna need you to run," I grin. He walks backward until he's out of the door. "James, put them all to sleep and take them home. This doesn't get out,"

"Yes, Lady Blackstone. It shall be," he smiles looking over my snake.

"Let's go, Mun," I order.

Jörmungandr doesn't hesitate to go after his prey. Cold night air whips against my heated face and I can finally breathe again. The monster that I've been holding back from the moment I returned to the world of the living is out and it wants to rampage. This goes beyond rage and pain. This is evil in the purest form. A gift from my dark lord. My demon of lust. Ashmedai, we'll soon be together again and I'm going to use that motherfucker to bring you back at full power, not just the sliver I planned to take from B.B. and Damien. No, that's not enough. If there are others, I will use this, my dark lord, to destroy anything and anyone that comes for her again.

The sound of her voice laced with fear as she tried to stop herself from hurting our guests is going to keep me awake for a long time. I've never heard B.B. cry out like that and the fact that Lucien and Carson did nothing to stop me from f*****g s**t up tonight tells me it startled them as well.

"Daddy!" Rosa shouts in the distance as Jörmungandr closes the gap between us.

"Run, Rosa!" he shouts.

I prepare myself to be launched at him as Jörmungandr slithers through the dead orange groves behind our house. He suddenly stops and I push off with all my force when I finally get a visual of him. I land on his back. The two of us hit the ground hard, but having just fed from the assholes B.B. and Lucien killed for Decarious, the fall doesn't affect me at all. I'm back on my feet as soon as my feet hit the ground. Rosa is standing between me and her unconscious father with a gun aimed at me.

"Shooting me is only going to piss me off more, Rose. If I kill you, B.B. will be very upset with me,"

"Why is she so f*****g important?" she shouts putting both hands on the gun.

"You aren't like us. You have an older sibling, don't you?" I ask. Her lower lip trembles.

"Declan is a f*****g i***t," she screams. "He doesn't deserve to be like my papa. He doesn't want to help him,"

"Declan," I nod. "Sounds pretty smart. I need him,"

"Why? He's nothing,"

"Not your brother you f*****g airhead. Him," I point at her father. She shakes her head. I look at Jörmungandr behind her. She turns around and drops the gun when she sees the close proximity of him. She screams falling to the floor when he opens his mouth to show off his pretty freshly polished fangs. "Why did you come here tonight?" I ask, picking up the gun. She scrambles back until she elbows deep in the leaves. I look around to see that the rows have actually been cleaned. "What was the point?"

"He wants to take those things out of their heads," she cries.

"He can't. Neither can B.B. They're going to stay there until the host dies. That's the way she programmed them," Jörmungandr coughs up the implant gun B.B. gave all of us in case an opportunity like this came up. His tail drops over her body to hold her down. "This won't hurt. Rose. It's just a little itch,"

"No," she leans back as far as she can.

"Try to remove it and boom," I laugh.

"Please," she shakes her head.

"Body and soul. You belong to B.B. now. You shouldn't have f****d with my sister, Rosa. Not now and sure as f**k not when she was little. I'm sorry this asshole made you do this. You probably deserved better at some point in your life but not anymore. You're her b***h now. Go home and say nothing. Tell them we killed your father because that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to sacrifice him to Ashmedai. Don't skip that part,"

"No," she cries out when I put the slimy gun to her nostril. She starts to cough when I insert the chip. I back away. With a wave of my hand, Jörmungandr releases her. She looks down at her dad and turns to look at me. "You'll pay for this,"

"My whole life," I agree. "Worth it,"