Hallows: Den of Serpents

Bruce Wayne It

REZZ- Gyrate

B.B.:

The room is silent. Carson picks up the chip from the floor and holds it up for the others to see. It looks a little bit like a head-scratcher. I knew it was going to be a lot for them to take in which is why I waited to present it. I struggled with the reality of the situation as I was building on it but there is no other way, is there? It's this or death and I don't want to kill all those people at once. At all.

"How many people are we talking?" Dec breaks the silence.

"Twenty-nine," Natalie answers. "I'm good with this solution. How many do you think are going to die?"

"Two, three at most," I answer honestly. "We'll know. Since I built them. We'd feed. So, bonus,"

"I'm in," Lucien raises his hand. The other crows follow.

"It's a yay for me too," Stacy agrees.

"When did you have time to make these?" Carson asks.

"I made it a while ago. All I had to do was tweak a few things. Recreate the programs. I can do that from my laptop at school,"

"Everyone is okay with this?" Delilah asks skeptically.

"Do we have an alternative?" Marco asks. He looks around the room and smiles when no one meets his gaze. "What are we calling this?"

"Brain teasers," I laugh. No one laughs with me. "Tough crowd,"

"We can't let them all out at once," Delilah sighs. "We get them out two by two every other day so it freaks them all out a little more," she turns to look at me. "Good s**t, B.B. Just don't make jokes about our victims,"

"They're trying to end the world as we know it. I created these to keep them from doing that and murdering them all. I think I deserve a laugh," I shrug.

"This isn't a joke," she glares at me.

"I'm a succubus s***h death thing. It's a joke somewhere," I shrug. That makes the others laugh. "That concludes my presentation. I will work on the execution next time. I was really nervous,"

"You did great, baby," Carson compliments.

"You need to be confident in your pitch. This is your work. You're putting in the hours. Be proud of it," Ahsan adds. "Even if it's insane,"

"That's a good note," I nod.

"Who wants to follow up?"

"Damien wants to move Thompson's execution up," Victor says. "She's not doing well,"

"Who's in charge of that?" I ask.

"I am," Natalie raises her hand. "We're not ready. She hasn't given us anything,"

"She's not going to give us anything," Victor says.

"Then she's not going to be doing well for a lot longer," Natalie shrugs.

"So, that we're okay with but my thing is nuts?" I scoff. "Double standard,"

Dec is the only one that laughs.

"What is it you need from her?" Victor asks. "This is business. Not personal. I'm good with her being removed but this is still my stone and you're being vindictive,"

"Framing her was us being vindictive," Lucien scoffs. "This is business. We need access to all of her gigs. The girls, the drugs, the weapons, the Government officials, and the cops. I want all of it. This implicates both our stones. We need to get ahead of that other reaper,"

"He's right," Delilah agrees. "Luc and I have gone through all her s**t and we've come up empty,"

"If she's protecting Alexie, she's not giving us s**t," Victor shakes his head. "We need to finish this before the trial starts. F.D. is on my ass about the execution as well. They have a new director. Her name is Alondra Vice,"

"What happened to the old fat guy?" I ask.

"Headshot," Dec answers. "Y'all talkin' 'bout Don Varretta?"

"Yes," I nod.

"He owed my old man a favor and he failed to comply. I took him out in New City a few days ago,"

"Your dad gives you assignments?" Carson asks. "Since when?"

"I was nine the first time I killed someone," he shrugs.

"Did you know that?" he asks me.

"Yeah," I nod. "Ray told me. He told me a few things,"

"Like what?" Dec asks alarmed.

"Good question," I cross my arms over my chest. It's none of his business what Ray and I talk about where it concerns him.

"She's not going to answer it, kid," Carson sighs. "Okay, we've got s**t moving. Lucien and I will introduce ourselves to the new director,"

"I'd like to be included in that," I say.

"Why?" he sneers.

"I want to make friends with her,"

"Again, why?"

"Illegal science s**t. I need to be covered if I get caught doing something dumb,"

"Adding that to s**t my girlfriend says," Lucien laughs. I smile at him.

"Yeah, okay. You can come. Anything else?" he Carson asks.

"We start debutante bullshit in two weeks. B.B. take a break from your science s**t and start prepping for this. I know I f****d up by keeping Lucien away so I fixed it,"

"Carson can do it next year," Lucien hands me his gentlemen's scroll. I take it feeling my face heat up.

"Thank god," Carson groans.

"Aww, thank you," I take it and give him a kiss on the cheek. "I love you guys for that,"

"Since I was the one that went in to talk to Mrs. Halestorm. I have to participate. Which means Nat, you can't,"

"No, that still leaves one opening for her," I shake my head.

"No, Shane is taking Rosa,"

"Over my dead f*****g body," I growl. "She's the last Phantom. Who the f**k is Rosa?"

"She's the Mayor's son's girlfriend," Delilah smirks.

"Nope. Not going to happen," there is no way in hell they're going to cut Natalie Phantom out of the pageant. Not for Rosa. f**k her.

"It's fine. I would have had to participate with Shane anyway and he's a d**k," Natalie shrugs without looking up at us. I turn my angry glare at my sister. She laughs.

"Are you going to have a f*****g fit over this?" she asks.

"Yeah, I'm going down there in the morning during my run,"

"Good. I love spoiled rich b***h B.B.," she nods. "You and Nat are in charge of wardrobe and locations. Stacy and I will take care of finance and media. Dylan you and Stace take third arm. Marco and I will do second. You and Lucien can take first,"

"That puts Shane and me fourth. Mrs. H is not going to like that," Natalie laughs.

"She'll like it because I'm paying for it all," I say. "She can go f**k herself and her son if she doesn't,"

"Bella, she just lost her husband," my sister reminds me.

"I just killed my mom. I win," I shrug. They all laugh. "f**k you, guys. The Brain teaser joke was funnier,"

"Christ," Delilah shakes her head. "You're a lot more cringe now than before, Bella,"

"I also have a request," Natalie raises her hand.

"Shoot," Delilah nods.

"My birthday is next weekend and I was wondering if I could have a few days off so that I can go visit my aunt in Vermont,"

"Aww," I jump off my desk. "I had plans,"

"For me?" she asks.

"Yeah, I just. I was planning your party. It's Theatre De Vampires themed,"

"That's what the coffins downstairs are for," James sighs. "That was driving me mad. I didn't want to ask,"

"I'm going to cry," Natalie chokes out.

"Fine, we can do it this weekend. I can just move up the orchestra's schedule. Bruce Wayne it,"

"Bruce Wayne it," Lucien repeats and bursts into laughter.

"That's a good one," Marco laughs. "Add that one to the s**t my girlfriend says thing. Not the other one those are inside jokes,"

"What are you guys doing?" I ask.

"We're starting a YouTube channel for the cafe when it opens and we're adding a s**t my girlfriend says segment. We're going to start it with Bruce Wayne it," Marco explains. They both laugh.

"That's cute," I nod.

"Would you be open to me baking shirtless on it?" Lucien asks.

"Not even a little,"

"Told you," Marco laughs. "What about tight t-shirts?"

"I'm okay with that," I nod.

"Have we named the cafe?" Delilah asks.

"No," I shake my head. "Lucien suggested L'alibi,"

"The Alibi in French," she laughs shaking her head. "No, that's a shitty bar in the middle of nowhere,"

"We'll work on it," I promise.

"What's wrong with it?" Lucien asks. He throws his hands up in the air dramatically.

"You're an asshole. We're not naming it that," she shakes her head again.

"I like it," Victor speaks up.

"Me too," Ahsan agrees. Which is uncharacteristic of him.

"I think it's funny," Dylan nods. "All in favor of L'alibi?"

"We're not doing that. f**k off," she shakes her head. They all laugh.

"I like Aile Cassée," I raise my hand.

"What's that mean?" Carson asks.

"Broken Wing," Delilah answers. "That's the name of our first song,"

"Right," I nod. "You guys are going to be playing there on weekends. Everyone working there is part of the Fallen. The aesthetic is Dark Academia. Dylan is French as f**k. It fits,"

"Aile Cassee," she repeats. "I like that better than the Alibi. The Alibi sounds like a bar,"

"Fine. Go with that," Lucien scoffs.

"Look at us. Getting s**t done," Marco smirks. "No fights. No arguments,"

"The night is still young," I whisper to myself.

"I still don't know what joining the devils means," Dec raises his hand. The crows all laugh.

"It's a ritual," Lucien says.

"Is it?" I laugh.

"You don't think what happened was ritualistic?" Ro laughs.

"It was definitely ritualistic," Victor smirks. "There were plenty of blood sacrifices and fires,"

"Blood sacrifices and fire?" Dec asks, seeming to be a lot more interested now.

"It's a s*x thing," Carson turns to face him. "Between the four of us,"

"What the f**k did you just say to me, motherfucker?" Dec stands up abruptly to face off with Carson.

"Aww, we were doing so well," Dylan and Marco get up.

"Let's take this s**t outside. James doesn't need to be cleaning our s**t up," Ahsan says cracking his knuckles. "I need to get this out of my system too,"

"Yeah, me too," Carson glares at the two of them. "No rules. Ten minutes,"

"No," Ro complains. "That was an option? I would have loved that,"

"You can still do it," Dylan prepares his phone to record them fighting.

"Nah, after the joining the violence chills. If any of you f*****g assholes puts your hands on my crows. I'll stab you," Lucien growls.

"Really?" Marco asks.

"Dead ass," he nods. "But Jimenez is right. We should have rumbled,"

"Are you okay with this?" Delilah asks me.

"No, but I don't have a say in it. They're devils. If I try to stop them I'll end up hurt. Ten minutes is enough time to help me set up in my room,"

"Wait, you want to join us now?" Carson asks.

"Mhm. You get what you want. I get what I want. This electric energy stops and all is good in the haunted mansion. I do not want us to spark in public. Wait, the lab is soundproof. We'll do it in the lab,"

"f**k," two of them groan.

"Ten minutes," Carson grabs my arm. "What do we get in return?"

"Blank check," I shrug. "One for the three of you. Whatever you want,"

"Bruce Wayne-ing it?" he glares at me playfully.

"f**k, that's going to become a thing isn't it?" I laugh.