Hallows: Den of Serpents

My Best Behavior

Pierce The Veil- Dive In

B.B.:

I don't have much of an appetite but I'm forcing myself to eat this delicious dinner anyway. I'm listening to Victor tell Damien the story behind Lucien's car. Lucien is rolling his eyes telling him that's not how the story goes. Carson is really happy to see Lucien making friends outside of him. Stacy and Natalie are playfully arguing with Delilah.

The energy in the room is calm. Soothing almost. The chatter is happy and full of life.

So, why can't I calm myself enough to enjoy it? There is so much weighing over me and I've never had a problem with living in the moment. So, why now? What can possibly be keeping me in this constant state of vigilance? I thought it was what happened with Decarious but he's here with us. What is it?

"You're a little too quiet," Delilah catches my attention. "Are you still mad? I changed the sheets and the bedspread. I promise,"

The others laugh.

"I don't-No, I'm not mad," I shrug her off.

"What's wrong?" Ahsan asks.

"I don't know," I admit. I reach for the glass of wine and take a sip. Loving the dry taste, I drink all of it and set the glass down.

"When is the last time you smoked?" Stacy asks.

"The night my dad left," I sit back. "I haven't needed to. I've been good,"

"You've been sober for weeks?" Lucien asks. I nod. "So, no weed, no music, and no fighting. Are you going through a thing?"

"I used those things because I was going through a thing," I laugh.

"It's Rosa," Delilah says. The knot in my belly tightens. Hmm. "Can I be the one to kill her?"

"Why?"

"Because she hurt you. You do know that you were in love with her, right?"

"She was my friend," I scoff.

"Friends don't share s**t like you two did," Carson disagrees.

"Damien and I share everything,"

"I hope the f**k not," Lucien growls.

"What are you guys talking about? Share things how?" I ask.

"Bella, you let that b***h in. Like, in in, baby sister. If you two were still friends now, she would be sitting here at the table with us. Had she not f****d Shane, she would have f****d you,"

"No," I laugh shaking my head. Lucien and Carson both look away and drink whatever they're drinking. "No, we were just friends,"

"Sweetie, you and I are just friends," Stacy says. "And sometimes I think about you when I'm alone,"

"I'll kill her," Victor shakes his head.

"I don't know what to say about that," I admit.

"B.B. it's okay to admit this is hurting you. You let the Shane thing go because you know he's just some guy she's clinging onto. She's doing the same thing you were. Looking for a way out of this family. You found someone who understood you in a way none of us will. Maybe Damien but he's one of us. Now that you know why she's really here, those pent-up emotions you feel are surfacing and because you're nuts. It's going to feel like you're drowning," Delilah smirks. "Trust me. I still wake up with the smell of Terra's skin. I dream about what I did to her all the shiny organs-"

"Okay, TMI," Natalie stops her. "Sweetie, you're giving psycho vibes right now,"

"I'm just saying," Delilah rolls her eyes. "You love her and she betrayed you. We can watch the Unity episode after dinner? I'll roll you some blunts?"

"I have to finish my homework and your speech for tomorrow's debate. Mrs. H emailed me about catering and her coming over to take a look at the garden,"

"We're doing the debutante garden party where you buried your mom?" Stacy laughs. "This year's founding traditions are going to be lit,"

"I can take care of things with Mrs. Halestorm," James takes my plate and places one with fruits on it.

"We still have to deal with Miles. I accidentally made a new acid that burned through my-that's not important. I think we can use it to get rid of the body,"

"The teal liquid that melted the stool you brought out of your lab this morning?" James asks placing his hands on his hips. "You could have spilled that on yourself, young lady. I trust you for the most part but we're going to have to set some rules,"

"In my lab?" I ask confused.

"This heartbreak you're going through is causing you to make some very poor decisions, Miss B.B.," he scolds.

"Whatever," I push my chair back. "I am not heartbroken. I was never f*****g in love with Rosa. f**k all of you guys. Not you Pastor Addams. Good night. I'm not in the mood to kill the f*****g asshole in my lab tonight,"

"Huh, I thought she just had big d**k energy but she might be bi," Natalie says as I walk towards the ballroom's double doors. I stop right outside.

"She does have big d**k energy," Dylan laughs. "I don't think she has a preference but she does have a type,"

"Really?" Ahsan scoffs.

"Yeah, the one thing Rosa Delioncourt has in common with all you assholes. She's corrupted. Bad down to her f*****g soul. If she is in love with her. You should all pay attention to the way things play out. If she admits to being in love with her or not, Rosa is f****d. It's going to be intimate and when it's over, B.B. is never going to be the same.

"We're dealing with Merciful Death here. She feels the pain of others so much it makes her kill them. What do you think is going to happen when that pain can't be cured because it only belongs to her? Let's not get in her way for this one. She's going to look for reasons to justify this and we all know she always gets what she wants. We should prepare,"

"For the death of Rosa Delioncourt?" Delilah scoffs.

"For the death of Rosa's entire family," Rodrigo laughs.

"Rosa was the weapon but she's not the one pulling the trigger," Victor adds.

"Are we a bad influence on her or is she a bad influence on us?" Natalie asks.

"We're the bad influence," Ahsan answers her. "But she's learning from our mistakes. She's crazy smart. We need to make sure she doesn't go off the rails. If she loses her s**t it's bad for business,"

"None of us can afford to be under investigation right now. The other syndicates are starting to take notice," Rodrigo agrees.

"We have an invite from Black Rose in Oregon," Lucien adds

"The bikers?" Delilah asks excitedly.

"Yeah, they want a meet. A batch of that s**t we were dealing the crack heads downtown got out and they're interested," Carson says.

"B.B. made that," she says proudly. "She has enough on her plate right now. Let her do her homework. Just cause she's good at dealing with all this s**t doesn't mean we need to push her as hard as we are. Let her channel that energy into Rose. f**k that b***h. If she kills her and her entire family, let her. That's what they get for trying to f**k with her in the first place,"

"She's not getting away with tonight," Carson dismisses her. "She made a choice and Decarious was shot,"

"That was on me," Dec tries to defend me.

"Yeah, it was but we told her ass not to kill Jamal and she didn't listen. These are the consequences. A race war would have started because of this s**t. A lot of people could have died all because you're a pretty boy with real goals and ambitions,"

"What the f**k that gotta do with what happened?"

"All the girls at school want to be friends with us because we're the hot girls," Stacy explains. "But if they had a chance to get rid of us so they could take our place. They would. Guys are no different. In fact, guys are a lot worse. They'd kill so that girls like us could look at them.

"It's the difference between being born with power and having to take it. You don't see it because you have darker s**t to worry about. You have real problems like having a dad teach you to be an assassin and being a hallow. Don't let your guard down around humans, sweetie. Those motherfuckers are the real monsters. We don't have a choice. They choose to be assholes,"

I go up to my room and shut the door behind me. She put a red f*****g comforter on my bed. I ask Alexa to play Dive In for me and as it plays, I strip the bed down and get the new pink fluffy comforter I got a couple of weeks ago. I spread it out and begin to vacuum the streaks out.

I've never denied that I loved Rosa. She came into my life when I didn't really have anyone. Delilah was always up to something with her friends and I was always stuck here with mom who was always trying to groom me into the perfect daughter. Dad had just died and for the first time, I felt lonely, and then I wasn't because Rosa was there with me.

We would sit in the room and watch T.V. together. Play video games. Read. She held me when things got too heavy for me. When the press tried to sneak pictures of me. When my dad was on every f*****g channel. She helped me escape.

Once the bed was done I sat down in front of my vanity and grabbed the first jar. Northern Lights. I take one of the joints and put it between my lips. I look up press the button on my electric lighter and catch my reflection in the mirror.

I've sat at this vanity my entire life. Everyone thinks it's because I like staring at my reflection, but that's never really been true has it? I can see the entire room through the mirror. I used to sit here brushing my hair creating little scenes in my head, and playing them out in the reflection of the room.

The girl sitting on the other side didn't have a dad that was a rockstar. She didn't have a mom that was obsessed with her image and classical tunes. She didn't have a sister that needed to be in control of every single aspect of her life. No. That girl was normal.

Her dad was a stockbroker. Her mom was head of the PTA and she made cute ballerina cookies. She didn't have a sister. She had a brother that played the drums and really liked math. He was mean to her sometimes but he'd always make it up with ice cream or a new doll. Her parents did fight but it never got violent and they never went to bed angry.

I used to tell her about that. I told her everything.

"f**k!"

My hands slide across the vanity sending everything on top of it flying. I reach for the mirror frame and rip it off the wall. My fist smashes through the glass to reveal the T.V. and the consoles back there.

I was in love with her. I might still be in love with her and it was all fake. None of it was ever real to her. How f*****g pathetic am I to have let someone in like that? How f*****g desperate for acceptance was I that I refused to see it? How she would ask me about myself. How she only ever wanted to talk about me and my dad. About me and Delilah. About me. Me. Me. Me. She was gathering f*****g information.

"B.B.," Delilah rushes into my room and I'm still sitting here in front of the vanity. "What happened?"

"She knows everything," I growl. She stops, her eyes searching mine frantically.

"What?"

"She knows everything. The house, the money, everything. The only thing she doesn't know is that we're hallows but she already knew that coming in didn't she?" I ask tears sliding down my face.

"What do you want to do?" she asks. Her tone softens and her expression almost reminds me of mom.

"Drop out of the pageant,"

"Aww, I like doing that stuff,"

"Drop out of the pageant, Delilah. Deal with Black Rose,"

"You f*****g little snoop," she shakes her head. "Okay, but you have to keep your head with this, Bella. You can't draw any more attention to us. The last thing we need is an investigation,"

"I promise to be on my best behavior," I agree without hesitation.

"f**k. I hate when you say that," she sighs. "Stop listening to this s**t. Whatever it is that's going on between you and Carson fix it. This f*****g song is driving me nuts. He doesn't stop playing it in the f*****g car either,"