Hallows: Black Death

It Could Be The Whiskey Talking

Emery- The Ponytail Parade

B.B.:

"Sixteen names," I say pointing at the board. "That's what Delilah's message holds,"

"Do you know what they have in common?" my dad asks.

"Other than our beloved dead girl? No. I'd have to go upstairs and ask the typewriter," I cross my arms over my chest.

"I have her iPad," Carson holds it up. "It's locked,"

For a moment, I hesitate and this feels a little too real for me along with a deeply rooted sense of betrayal. Did he really f*****g keep my sister's iPad without ever mentioning it? He sees the expression on my face and begins to take it back. I snatch it from him and take a seat. I put my dad's death date into the password space and it opens up.

"How-never mind," he takes it back from me.

He looks down at it and I realize that he's in the same position I am. I take it back from him and begin to open up her favorite apps. My dad shakes his head keeping his little stupid comments to himself for once. I finally find what I'm looking for. Each name labels a tab in some of her notes. They were in her hidden files. I open the first one, a picture with a little triangle in the center pops up. A video. I hesitate to press play.

"Hey," Delilah's face pops up on the screen. "If you're watching this, it means I'm dead-"

I drop the tablet feeling a chill rush through my body. Suddenly my ears start to ring and I begin to panic. I can hear someone calling my name in the distance. I can't breathe. I can't f*****g breathe. Everything is spinning as I get up and stumble out of the library. It's been a few days since I've seen Delilah hanging from the ceiling. I thought I had gotten over it but my eyes look up and meet her dead ones the same way they did when I walked through the front door two years ago.

I can't hold myself up as I fall to my knees and curl into myself as I try to stop the panic attack from making me pass out. f**k. With just one f*****g little greeting my world is once again turned upside down. She didn't do this to herself. She was f*****g terrified and I wasn't there. I wasn't there for her. None of us were.

"B.B.?" my dad squats down in front of me. "I need you to take deep breaths, Pinky. Inhale through your nose. Exhale through your mouth. Can you do that for me, Pinky? I need you to calm down,"

"I don't want to calm down," I growl as my body shutters.

"Okay, but we need to see what your sister has to say. You're in full hallow state," he looks up at the ceiling where my eyes are locked in. "Whatever you see, it's not real. If it were I'd be able to see it too,"

"Is she back?" Lucien asks standing behind him. I nod. He reaches for me and pulls me up into his arms. He carries me back towards the library and sets me down on the couch. "You don't need to be looking up at that. I can take over-"

"No," the hiss comes out on its own. I can feel Eve tightening around my throat.

"What the f**k did you guys do?" Stacy and Natalie rush into the room and go for the remotes. They turn the news on.

"Today, we mourn the death of Mayor Dawn Halestorm and his daughter fifteen-year-old Kaylee Halestorm," the news reporter begins to cover her story. They're at Shane's house. Behind her, two black body bags are being rolled out on stretchers.

"B.B.?" Carson stands up looking over at me. "What the f**k did you do?"

"Me?" I ask looking around the room.

"The two bodies were discovered by the Mayor's eldest son. Shane Halestorm, when he returned home from a house party around four a.m. There seems to be no force of entry. In fact, Mrs. Halestorm didn't notice there was anything amiss until her son rushed into the room to inform his parents that his sister had been-"

"Why do you think that was me? I would never hurt-" I stop looking back at the board. Their names are on it well the Mayor's is. "No," I stand up looking down at my hands. "There's no f*****g way I did that," I go over to my computer and plug my phone into it. I trace back to the locations I'd been to last night. "See, I walked to the Hacienda through the cemetery. The Halestorm Estate is on the Westside,"

"If you didn't do that," Lucien looks over at the T.V. "There's another Reaper in town,"

"It could be some psycho," Carson offers. "It could have nothing to do with us,"

"You don't think this has something to do with us?" I scoff. "The Mayor's name is on the f*****g board. Give me the iPad,"

"You just had a panic attack," my dad reminds me.

"We don't have f*****g time for that," I growl. He sighs handing me the iPad. I synced the iPad to the T.V. and pressed play.

"Hey," it starts over my heart is racing but the mayor is dead. Shane's dad is dead. "If you're watching this. It means I'm dead. Carie, Lucy, B.B. I'm f*****g sorry. I should have told you but I got a little cocky," she sighs pushing her bright red hair back. "I want to say so many things.

"B.B. I should have told you sooner but after dad died. You started to really come into your own. I was so proud of you. I mean it takes balls to not be a f*****g Blackstone. It's so easy to get lost in this s**t. I wanted you to be normal for as long as you could be. It's not an excuse but that is my reason.

"Lucy, I'm sorry I let you down. I told you I would protect her and I f****d up. I shouldn't have let him anywhere near her. Anywhere near us. I don't have the power to do this but I've been compromised. I'm not gone. Here, let me show you what I'm talking about," she gets up and then comes back with a journal. It's not dad's. "This is a hallow's ritual book,"

"f**k Delilah," my dad growls.

"I found it in the attic. It's called a piece of my soul. Uh, so you take something that means everything to you. An object or a person. I don't have an object but you do, Carson. I'm linking my soul to the virgin Mary pendant your mom gave you,"

"It's why she asked us not to cremate her," Lucien stands up.

"Shut up," Carson silences him.

"Okay, with that said. I give my power over to the Reaper. Even when I come back as a viper, B.B. you'll still have the black mamba. You were always meant to have both but I needed to step back and let you awaken before this could be finished. I don't know how long it's going to take but I'm confident that you're the only one that can bring me back. That might be the Whiskey talking though.

"I left two journals on my desk. Don't f**k with the typewriter, B.B. Dad told me it was dangerous and he was right. Just-if you touched it already. Don't go back. Anyway, the journals. The names on that list are a hit list. Not for you but they belong to another Reaper.

"This man's name is Alexie Strogomir. This is where things get tricky. Before this, I didn't know there were other stones out there. I wanted to tell you guys but we have a lot of s**t going on with Escobar and Jimenez and business always comes first," a map comes up on the T.V. "This is us," a circle appears in the center. "We're the Hellbourne Stone. The original sin. New City, has a stone of its own called the Daemon stone. Old Town, Illumination Stone. Garden Grove, Devastation Stone. Justine, Cadaber Stone. Lindsay, Apocolypse Stone.

"They're all positioned in the perfect pentagram. And they're not different stones. They're the same f*****g stone, B.B. All the pieces fit together," she reappears on the screen. "These things are all over the f*****g world. It's not a curse. It's-" she laughs and stands up again. The wall over her desk is covered in papers. Her desk is covered with old textbooks. "It's a crusade. Something to do with Lilith. The first bride.

"Not demonic or whatever. Uh, if I am translating this correctly, Lucifer granted Lilith some kind of immortality in exchange for her to run the archdemons in hell when she did finally die. She died here in Hellbourne, B.B. How f*****g crazy is that?" she laughs. "She's the f*****g stone and it calls to those willing to suffer, to sacrifice, to fix injustice.

"I mean I have a warped sense of it but you. f**k, B.B. You live for this s**t. Since you were a kid. You don't even want anything out of it. I used to think you were just like dad but he was a f*****g ass hole. You're not. You can be crazy but you're genuinely a good person. Again, I'm a little drunk already.

"Anyway, it all starts with the Toad. She's working with the other Reapers. Uh, Enrique Hernandez, Alexie Strogomir, and Donna Wickery. I'm not sure who the Daemon Reaper is. It could be Mariah Thompson or that kid Damian but it's too soon to tell. The rest of them. They're after the people on this list. Starting with this name. You have to protect them," the screen goes dark.

"Protect them from what?" my dad asks. I clicked the next name. She's outside now. She's wearing all black which is completely uncharacteristic of her. She's even wearing a black baseball hat.

"Hey, that's where they meet. It's the old Wickery estate. The third Tuesday of every other month. That's Mariah Thompson. She's a devil. I saw her. She killed seventeen girls at the New City Gentlemen's club. She owns that huge mausoleum in Oak Grove, B.B. There are hundreds of f*****g bodies in there.

"Carson, we have a f*****g body count but this. This is some next-level s**t. Be careful around her. They're preparing for something. They're waiting for the awakening of all six Reapers. There are two left. Damian and B.B.," a bunch of files pop up. "These are all the names of each demon on every stone in our area. Not all of them obviously but most of them,"

I stop the video and sit back. Everyone turns to look at me. I need a moment of silence to process a little of what she just said. A moment to let her excitement sink in and let it consume me. My dad holds his hand up when Carson stands up to approach my desk.

"Shh, let her think," he whispers. "She's got this,"