Hallows: Black Death

Hand Her Over Or Else

Beck- Ramona

B.B.:

Moonlight sonata is playing on my TV. I think it's been playing all night because I swear I had a pretty dream about my mother. A distant dream I can't really remember. I tell Alexa to turn it off and she does. From the corner of my eye, I see my dad get up from my gaming chair and come over to me.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asks.

"I don't know. Nauseous, my head is pounding," I sound like I swallowed sand. I feel it too.

"That is an after-effect from using the coldness in your body to keep death from taking a soul. It comes with its cons," he shrugs. He pushes my bangs out of my face and strokes my head a little. It feels good. He's warm. "It's called the Kiss of Life,"

"Does that imply that there's a kiss of death?" I ask rubbing my temples.

"The kiss of death is the warmth you steel from the crows when you play with them," he smirks. I sit up feeling dizzy again. The door opens and James walks in with a tray of food.

"You need to eat, Miss. Replenish. Grill cheese and tomato soup," he sets the tray on my lap.

"How do you keep this thing from swinging back and forth?" my dad asks trying to move the bed.

"I put a base in the bottom," I answer reaching for the buttery sandwich. "Delilah used to come in here drunk as hell and swing me when I was asleep. I flew out of the bed once and hit the vanity,"

"f**k," he laughs looking away.

"She cracked three ribs the day I bolted the base in. It was funny," I dunk the sandwich in the soup and take a bite. I don't know what comes over me but as soon as I swallowed that first bite the hunger takes over and I devour everything in less than a couple of minutes.

"Been there," my dad smiles. "Shower, get dressed. James will get you more food. You're going to want to eat all day. You should. You lost a lot of cold," he puts his hand on my forehead. "You're burning up. James, turn the AC down. It's too warm to open up the windows,"

"Yes, sir. Excuse me," he bows and walks out with the empty tray.

"You need to be nicer to him," I scold.

"Nah, he knows I love him," he smiles. "Come on, sleepy head. Get up. You've been asleep eighteen hours,"

"What?" I pull the blankets off. Eighteen hours. I can't remember the last time I wasted all of that time.

"Shower, you've been sweating all night," he informs me.

"I don't sweat," I call back. It's true. I've never broken a sweat in my life. My face just gets flushed but I don't sweat. However, I do feel really sticky right now. I also feel really hot. It's bothering me.

After a cold shower, I pull some shorts on and one of Luc's Blackcraft Cult t-shirts he left here. It's a tarot card of two skeletons. The Lovers. I don't care what he says. I'm keeping this. I pull on some socks and the black vans he bought me. After sleeping with my contacts on, I am not prepared to put them on again so I grab my glasses and put my hair up in a bun. f**k it. Hungover is the theme today.

"Hey," everyone greets me when I walk down to the library.

"Close the curtains," I groan and go over to my desk. Carson gets up and shut them behind me.

"How are you feeling?" Stacy asks.

"Hung over," my dad laughs.

"We don't get hung over," Lucien scoffs but his eyes are appreciating that I have his shirt on and the shoes he bought me. Good. That was the point. He gave something up for me and I want to show him how grateful I am. "And she hasn't been drinking since the last incident,"

"Incident?" my dad turns to me.

"Shut up, Lucien," I croak.

"It's an after-effect from what she did to Jimenez," my dad explains. At the mention of his name I looked around the room and find him sitting in my nook wearing Carson's clothes. He waves at me with a little smile pulling at his lips.

"All caught up?" I ask. He simply nods. "Please tell me we have eyes on the two of them,"

"No," Lucien is the one that answers when no one else does. I pull my phone out of my back pocket but Stacy snatches it right out of my hand.

"Really?" I ask.

"We need to talk about this,"

"Alexa call Victor Escobar," I call out.

"Calling Victor Escobar," the speaker on my desk announces. The line rings twice before he picks up.

"Belladonna," he answers cheerfully.

"We have a problem," I sit back.

"Already? We haven't even gone on our first date," he chuckles. Now I have three boys glaring at me.

"Not you and me. Me and your Devil,"

"Oh, we all have a problem with her. What did she do?" he stays cheerful. It almost makes me smile. Almost.

"She shot one of my guys, Vic. I had to perform something called the kiss of life and now I feel like s**t and I have this urge to f*****g kill everything in my path. Where is she?" I demand.

"B.B. whatever happened, you can't just kill her," Damian interjects.

"I can and I will. So, you either tell me where she is or I am going to go down there and I'm going to start picking you all off one by one until you f*****g give me what I want, Damian," I growl. My body is shaking violently now. My muscles are so tight they hurt. I can barely breathe in and when it comes out, I hear the reaper growling in my voice. "You have until ten tonight to give me her location or you're going to see a side of me only my mother has ever seen,"

"f**k," Damian sighs. "B.B. you know I can't do that. It would be like me asking you to hand over Carson or Lucien. You're one of three people I trust and I care about you but I can't hand you, my devil,"

"She has a kid with her. Luis Jimenez," I add. He's going to give her to us one way or another or we're going to take her. Simple as that. He knows that.

"What? What the f**k is she doing with a Jimenez?" he growls.

"Give me the kid, alive and I'll consider talking to you about Mariah. You have until ten,"

"If she has the kid, I'll get him for you," Vic agrees. "If I don't like what she has to say, you can have the devil as well. What happened, B.B.? Who got hurt, baby? Talk to me,"

"Don't f*****g talk to my girl like that, motherfucker," Lucien snaps. Victor laughs.

"Lucien. You let Mariah f**k you up?" Victor teases.

"f**k you. As if that stupid b***h can lay a finger on me," he sits back crossing his hands over his chest.

"You have another secret crow, B.B.? You naughty princess. I'm jealous now," he teases.

"Who the f**k is this guy?" my dad growls.

"The Daemon crow," I answer feeling the headache roar. Even my eyes hurt.

"f*****g Escobars. They're all f*****g crazy. Hang up the phone, now. You have until ten tonight or we're going to go down into the city and rip it apart, kid. Get your house in f*****g order, Victor,"

"Who is this?"

"It's my dad," I answer. "I'll explain later. I gotta go,"

"f**k. I see where all that rage is coming from now. Please reconsider killing our Devil but I won't stand in your way if you decide otherwise. I'll make sure Damian doesn't either,"

"Don't f*****g promise her that, Vic. What the f**k is wrong with you?" Damian growls at him.

"I'll see you tonight, B.B." he laughs and hangs up.

"Christ, if I were still alive you'd-" my dad stops himself from shouting at me. "f*****g kid," he gets up and continues cursing me under his breath. "Tarps, tape, rope, bleach. I'm going to teach you motherfuckers how to bury your own got damned bodies and properly. Move that ass, Jimenez. This is on you,"

"Ugh," Rodrigo gurgles in the back of his throat and goes after him.

"They bonded," Carson explains.

"Over what?"

"Lucien being top dog, believe it or not," he smirks. "Top crow. Natalie is the top dog apparently,"

"Best believe, b***h," she smirks. "Is it wrong that I am excited for tonight? I've wanted to see Mariah Thompson squirm for a long f*****g time,"

"Me too," Stacy jumps up. "f*****g cunt. I'd sell my soul to curve stomp her until her jaw falls off,"

"Who is this girl? Why do you guys all hate her?" I ask. She seemed so nice when I met her in the library.

"She's a pimp," Natalie crosses her arm over her chest.

"So is Stacy," I point out.

"Yeah, I take care of our girls. Mariah doesn't care about s**t other than her money. Big city dons are f****d up in the head. They pay a little extra for the clean-up afterward. Delilah had a plan for her but-"

"Okay," I nod knowing that it's enough for me to think about. It's not just the fact that she poked holes in Rodrigo. "Can I have my phone, please?"

"No," Carson shakes his head. I groan.

"Alexa, text Thompson. I'll see you soon," I call out. "Do you really think you can stop me?"

"No, but I can f*****g try," he smirks. "I like this look on you. I didn't know you wore glasses,"

"Legally blind," I admit.

I turned my head to see the Reaper standing next to me. She's not the only one there. There's one in the darkness under the stairs. She looks like Ashley. She's crouched down with a feral look on her ghoulish features. Sharp shark teeth on full display. Her grotesque hands are more like talons and they're black like she dunks her hands in tar. My father's snake is wrapped around her body. It's terrifying. My reaper hasn't turned away from her. She's watching her intently. I reached out putting my hand in her boney one. She looks down at our hands and then at my face.

"Black Death," she whispers.

"Yeah," I nod.

"Pain," She shakes her head. "So much pain,"

My father's reaper is something out of a nightmare. I see things and part of me doesn't truly let me experience them but my dad does. He's a different story. He experiences everything in front of him. An empath with very few outlets and it's reflected in everything he does. He hides it so well. He makes me feel like I'm an open book.