Hallows: Black Death

Courtesy of Our New Number One

Vastive- BLACK SHEEP

Carson:

This is the first time we're gathered since Delilah's death. Delilah and I started the Fallen when my brother and I were finally emancipated. She was a freshman and we started off as a small clean-up crew.

It fell on our laps, really. See, the Fallen is the name of our band. We've been playing together for a few months and we were getting backyard jobs at other kids' birthday parties. Everyone knew who we were. Delilah singing lead really got the Dante Blackstone worshiping dipshits off. The night inspiration struck, our show ran a little late and since none of us could drive at the time, we had to haul our equipment on our wagons. Sometimes we would get rides but not this particular night.

Dr. Liam Oliver had been arguing with his wife all day. Their twin daughters, Emma and Emelie spiked the punch and they didn't even notice. Half of those kids went home with the "stomach flu". Mrs. Oliver stormed out with a gun in her hand and she ended up dead. It was in the southside so no one called the police but we witnessed it and we offered Dr. Oliver to make it go away if he gave us a ride home.

He did and none of us ever spoke of it again. However, he told someone and the rumor spread. They gave us a location and we would just show up to clean up. We started asking for all kinds of stuff. New equipment, limited edition toys, rare comics, and bike parts. Coincidentally, most of our calls were to the upper westside aka, the new money elite.

That's where we got into pushing drugs. That's how we fell in love with this life. We know things that would destroy this whole town. It's why we get away with whatever we want and Delilah ran it all from her iPad. She weighed the risks and would tell us how much someone needed to put up. If things were too risky, we'd walk away. That is until we started feeding properly.

There were twelve of us. Delilah Blackstone, Lucien Daniels, Stacy Whittmore, Marco Del Monte, Dylan Cooke, Sabrina Drake, Natalie Phantom, Shane Halestorm, Tanya Sterling, Jace Goldman, Peter Knightly, and yours truly. This was the Fallen. We all run our own crews, spread through the city.

Tanya, Jace, and Peter are all from Hellbourne Prep. Sabrina, Natalie, and Dylan were all from the southside public system. We would meet up at the pizza parlor. It has an arcade and that's where we would wait for jobs. It's almost in the middle of Hellbourne and the perfect spot for us to meet.

Seeing them all here, except for Stacy and Delilah kind of hurts. I didn't think it would affect me this way but it is. Meeting here in Whitmore like we did when we were kids, it's a lot. It's been two years and I miss her just as much as I did when we set her coffin inside the mausoleum. It didn't hit me until the doors to her final resting space were locked. Being around B.B. reminds me of a better time. A better me.

"Where's Stacy?" Tanya asks when I take a seat.

"Is B.B. going to be taking Delilah's spot?" Shane asks.

"What?" Peter, Jace, and Sabrina say at the same time.

"Can we even trust her?" Peter adds.

"Yes, we can trust her. And we haven't addressed the issue as a unit so until we all come to a decision I'll wait to tell her the truth," I sigh. "I didn't call you here for that,"

"Then what?" Shane growls.

"You need to shut that s**t down," Lucien points at him.

"Why?" he challenges. "You think you have sway over me because I let you take out half my crew?"

"You let me?" Luc laughs. "You let me?"

"Yeah, I let you," Shane repeats. "If she's not joining then why the f**k are you guys running with her?"

"None of your f*****g business, b***h," Natalie says calmly. "Why don't shut the f**k up and sit there looking pretty?"

"Whatever," he turns away from her.

He's never liked to argue with Nat and after what happened with Stacy and his guys under his girlfriend's roof, I'm sure he feels guilty about the whole thing. He knows what Stacy means to all of us. What she means to this town.

"What's going on, man?" Jace asks.

"It's about the Red Widow," I state. The room goes silent.

"Tough crowd," Dante laughs since not all of us can see or hear him we have to pretend we didn't hear that.

"We're moving forward with stage six. We're back on track," Lucien announces. "We don't even have to dig her grave,"

"Wait, really?" Sabrina smiles wide.

"Stage six? That has Delilah's plotting all over it," Dante laughs. "This is cute,"

"What are we doing?" Peter smirks. I'm pleased to see that they still want blood.

"This will be Belladonna's initiation task," I begin.

"What?" Shane shakes his head. "Delilah didn't f*****g want her here,"

"That's not even a little true," Luc rolls his eyes. "Delilah had been grooming B.B. from the start. That's a story for another time. Right now, B.B. has Thompson by the balls. Chona Jimenez, that was us. We just got Luis last night and we're taking her out with them,"

"Holy s**t. You're setting her up for that? Do you know what their brother will do to her?" Tanya asks.

"Actually, we're doing him a favor. Luis was running for Thompson," Luc dismisses her concern.

"Wait, wait, wait," Peter looks us over. "You're telling me that not only did she manage to line this up but that she has Rigo Jimenez in her f*****g Valentino purse?"

"That's exactly what we're saying," I laugh. Not in so many words. They don't need to know all of it. They just need to know that he's on our side now. After handing him some things, Marco took him home so he can prepare for his godfather's arrival.

"That sounds a lot like you're going to be the new second in command, Diablo," Sabrina grins. "I saw her at the parlor. These are daddy vibes,"

"That's the idea," Luc nods. "She's not going to want it at first. She's probably going to be f*****g pissed about all of this but we need her and she needs us,"

"If you bring her in, I want out," Shane sits back.

"Out?" Marco scoffs. "You want out?"

"There is no out," Dylan laughs. "We made a blood pact. All of us,"

"This isn't a f*****g cult," Shane huffs. "I want out and you're going to let me out,"

"There is no out," Lucien clarifies. "You know way too much about us and we know just as much as you. So, you're going to put away your little girly emotions and you're going to suck it the f**k up. You graduate this year, Halestorm. You're going to finish off the year as promised,"

"Bringing Belladonna in was never part of the deal," he fires back angrily.

"What's this guy's f*****g problem?" Dante asks swinging his arm out like he's going to slap him. Lucien and I go completely still until his arm goes right through him. Dylan laughs making us all look at him.

"Sorry, I couldn't stop," he shakes his head. "Just because you're still in love with her isn't going to stop us from bringing her in,"

"Oh," Dante laughs. "No, B.B. The f*****g quarterback? The f*****g quarterback? You let her date this f*****g dildo?" Lucien tries so hard to hold in his laughter but fails. "Aww, I am so disappointed in her right now,"

"What the f**k is wrong with you guys tonight? Are you getting high on your own s**t again?" Peter laughs.

"No, no," Lucien shakes his head. "It just dawned on me right now. That Halestorm is a f*****g dildo," everyone laughs.

"Look at his face," Dante shakes his head. "Oh, B.B. you rebelled hard kid. I don't know if I should be proud or pissed right now,"

"f**k you," Shane bites out looking between my brother and me. "f**k you both,"

"Come on, Halestorm. We're just f*****g with you," I grin. "It's a joke. man. You can't walk away and you know that. Do we have our differences right now? Yeah. You f****d Rosa and B.B. found out. That's on you. We're grateful to you," I point to Lucien and me. "You have your girl and we have ours,"

Shane's baby blue eyes narrow and he sits back. It's not news, I'm sure. The rumors have been scandalous and we haven't been quiet about it, exactly. B.B. and I fight all the time. Lucien has his way with her when he pleases all over the school. A kiss here, a gift there. They're f*****g couple of the year. Me confirming it now is the last nail in his coffin. He's about to hate B.B. with his entire little entitled heart. Gone is his sweet innocent B.B. Lost and he never got to know what it was like.

"This is bullshit," Shane resigns. "Tell me why I should stay?"

"Your dad is cutting you off when you graduate, Halestorm. You're going to need us. This is a big hit. You can take fifty gs with you to California along with some extra herbs to get you set up. You and Peter,"

"f**k yes," Peter grins. "I am in. I've got a couple of cousins at USC and UCLA. Does this mean we still have the docks?"

"Yeah, we have the docks. We never lost them, asshole," Lucien sneers defensively.

"What about Victor? I heard he took out some people at the beach," Tanya looks between us.

"He did," I nod. "But he's backing off. B.B. gave him something he wanted,"

"Money?" Shane asks.

"Nah, there just somethings money can't buy," Lucien looks over at me very briefly.

"Gay," Dante laughs. "I thought you guys were the only fairies in this s**t," He points at Dylan and Marco. "Shouldn't have made that bet,"

"I hate him," Lucien whispers massaging his temples.

"What are we doing?" Shane gives in. Marco and Dylan put a bag in front of them. "These are the guns we got from the eastside,"

"Yeah and we're going to use these to sic Thompson on all the Eastsiders. We're giving this region to Victor and letting him into Hellbourne and once Rigo's godfather gets the f**k out of here, he's going to become lucky number thirteen of The Fallen. All of Hellbourne will belong to us," Lucien smiles.

"Courtesy of our new number one," I nod. "The Fallen are back in business,"