Hallows: Pretty Snakes & Devils

Phase Two

The Plot In You- Enemy

Ahsan

Changelings are some of the most dangerous supernaturals in our world and B.B. has managed to piss off an entire pack of them. It says a lot because these creatures don't run in packs. In fact, it's incredibly rare to catch more than two in a single vicinity. Let alone twelve. By the way, she's preparing, I know she knows how dangerous they are. How bad all of this can turn out for all of us. These things are deadly and if we don't get them off our backs soon, one of us might end up dead. They tend to pick the little weak ones off one by one and if I'm being honest, the Hellbourne Stone has nothing to worry about. That f*****g thing got to me and I should consider myself lucky all it got away with was pissing off my girl and a couple of drops of my blood.

"These are the floor plans for this club," Stacy says handing B.B. her iPad. B.B. takes it and barely glances it over before she waves us all in.

"I've been inside already," she says and takes a deep breath. Half of us jump when the reaper appears behind her. B.B.'s entire demeanor changes when she turns around to face her. We all step back when the Reaper growls at her.

The first time I ever saw it get aggressive with B.B. it scared the s**t out of all of us. But this time, B.B. is in no way afraid of it. She's angry. I've seen B.B. upset plenty of times and a lot of those times it's been directed at me or one of the other devils but this is different. Belladonna Blackstone is really f*****g mad.

"You will not-" the reaper begins to talk but she's cut off when B.B.'s hand covers her mouth. The crows all step away from the two of them.

"You did this," B.B. hisses at her. "You f*****g made me do this," she pulls her in. The Reaper whimpers. She f*****g makes the same heartbreaking sound B.B. does when she's about to lose her s**t. "And you're going to help me fix it now. I f*****g told you not to get in my way and look at what you've done," she growls pointing down at the club. "If one of us gets hurt I am blaming you for all of it. You never f*****g listen to me,"

"She is not ours," the Reaper shakes her head. "There are rules, Belladonna. You know that. She's been marked,"

"By who?" B.B. demands. The Reaper writhes and her hand grips onto B.B.'s wrist. "Tell me who she was marked by,"

"That's not the way it works, Belladonna," the Reaper growls.

"Now, Remy. You're wasting my f*****g time,"

"Black Death," the Reaper says reluctantly. B.B. finally lets her go.

"And the others?" she asks.

"The others are fair game," the Reaper straightens up.

"This doesn't change anything. Remy. You f****d us in this. I could have lost Stacy that night. What did you think was going to happen after what you did?"

"It was never my intention,"

"It was never your intention?" B.B. laughs. "This might not be a big f*****g deal to you but she put her filthy f*****g hands on my devil. It could have easily been one of my crows. Would it have f*****g mattered to you then?"

"No, this is not my reap. You are the vessel. You protect our-" The reaper is once again cut off but not by B.B. this time. Eve jumps out from under Carson's vest and hisses at her. The Reaper growls. "You will not-"

"Enough," B.B. holds out her spear tucking it under Remy's chin when she reaches out for Eve. The angry look on the Reaper's face when she turns to look at B.B. makes us all step back again. "You're not going to put this on her. She didn't do anything wrong. She didn't abandon me when those f*****g things came after us, Rem. You did. I am done with your s**t. You are going to start listening to me or I will put you in the f*****g locket,"

"You dare threaten me?" the Reaper steps into the spear.

"It's not a threat, Merciful Death. It's a f*****g promise. You've been using me from the start and I let you because we had an understanding but that's over now. There is no more trust," B.B. lowers her spear. "I don't trust you anymore. Not with my life and not with theirs,"

"I don't understand,"

"You wouldn't would you?" B.B. looks away from her. "You're just a f*****g demon,"

"B.B.?" the reaper reaches out to her.

"Eve," B.B. holds her hand out and the snake slithers onto her arm.

"B.B.," the reaper repeats.

"Stay here, Remy," B.B. pinches the center of her spear and then tosses it at the Reaper. "I don't need you for this. From now on, Eve and I will take care of what needs to be done. That way you can continue serving your master,"

"Master? What are you talking about?" Lucien asks. The Reaper is looking at B.B. with disbelief. There are black tears streaming down her face.

"You want to tell them?" she asks. The Reaper bows her head. "On top of being an asshole, you're a coward too?" B.B. scoffs. "She's been targeting souls Chance wants. She's been doing what he wants her to do. The day those things attacked us, Chance called her away. She left Stacy and me in the middle of the f*****g jungle to die,"

"No," the Reaper shakes her head.

"No?" B.B. laughs humorlessly. "f**k you, Rem. Why don't you go to him and tell him he can go f**k himself too?"

"You cannot take words back between us, little one," the Reaper warns her.

"You can't take betrayals back either. You're my Reaper. You don't belong to him. We're together. You promised me that I'd never be alone again,"

"Don't,"

"Eve would never do what you did to me. If it wasn't for her I would have lost my friend. My soul belongs to you but I never really had one to begin with, did I?"

"You are upset. I understand that much. You cannot kill that woman. She is not yours to take,"

"Maybe not. It's kind of sad, isn't it? Black Death is the biggest f*****g asshole in existence and you somehow managed to outdo him. Him I trust to hell and back. We might be at each other's throats day and night, but one thing I can count on is him being there when I need him to be. f**k off, Mercy,"

"You will regret this," the Reaper turns away.

"Is that a threat?"

"I've never been a threat to you, Little One," her hood materializes and she disappears into black smoke.

"B," Stacy takes her hand. "I know you're upset but there has to be some kind of mistake,"

"There are twelve f*****g changelings down there that say otherwise. Who knows how many others have my blood, Red? She did that. She left us in that f*****g jungle. You were there,"

"I know, B but she must have had a good reason,"

"Stacy, you could have died. How would I have explained that to your parents or the others? How would I be able to look Halestorm in the eyes again?" she wipes her tears. "The plan," she breathes out. "There are four exits. The two side ones are covered by the robots," she says pointing them out. "Team A you're taking the back entrance. The rest of us are walking through the front,"

"Lucien," Carson tosses him an AR. Lucien catches it with ease and wipes his eyes. None of us really know what the f**k just happened but watching her send the reaper away like that was harsh. They're supposed to be a team.

"Stacy will go in first,"

"Stacy?" we all ask at the same time. The two of them laugh.

"Yeah, we need to make sure we have minimal casualties. Stacy is going to put the humans to sleep," she nods.

"Stacy?" I ask again because she's always been a lookout.

"Stacy," she repeats annoyed. "This f*****g thing can take out all of us in our sleep," she glares at me. "Do none of you know what she is?"

"A butterfly," we all laugh.

"She's the Death Omen," B.B. shakes her head. "The Queen, all other Omens are simply her monarchs. I don't know why I'm explaining this to any of you. Just watch,"

"Sleepy time," Stacy nods.

"Right, Stacy is going to sweep the street first. And then the building," B.B. continues. Lucien, you and your team head towards the back. We're using the bullets David and Liam made for us, right? We need to make sure these things stay down. They're really good at playing possum,"

"Yeah," Carson nods.

"Okay," she wipes her hands on her pants and takes a deep breath. "We can use this for phase two,"

"Phase two?" Delilah laughs and then gets serious. "Seriously?"

"Twelve bodies. We have our masks," she points back at the duffle bag. Holy s**t is this really happening? Now? "We knew this day was coming. If you don't think we're ready we'll just get rid of them but the opportunity will be missed. We're not going to get this chance again for a while,"

"Holy s**t," Delilah shakes her hands out laughing. "I just got tingly,"

"Me too," Dylan grins. "Let's do it. I mean they made their move when they put those kids in those cages. Chance said we have to thin out the bloodlines. This way, they come to us,"

"I agree," Marcos nods. "I'm tired of sitting around waiting for s**t to get worse,"

"Aye," the rest of the stone agrees.

"Okay," Carson nods. "Phase two,"

"What's phase two?" Ro asks.

"We're going to introduce Merciful Death to the world," Delilah answers. "Once we take this step, B. There's no going back. We can't back out. It'll be out there. It's not going to be a theory anymore. None of us can be alone anymore. You're going to have to make up with your Reaper,"

"She's not going to leave me," she shakes her head. "She left me to f*****g die and if I let her get away with that s**t, she's going to keep doing it to me. I can't let that happen again,"

"You're alive,"

"No thanks to her and look at this s**t," she motions to the club again. "That f*****g thing nearly ripped Stacy's wing off before I was able to kill it. I'm not going to let them get away with this s**t. I am not a f*****g side piece. They both need to understand that. Whatever they're doing, I want to know all of it. Don't you?"

"Yeah, but you can't really negotiate with him," Delilah shrugs. "He's not a regular demon prince,"

"You can't. He wants something from me. I'm not going to give it to him until we get answers. We're not f*****g pawns and he's made it clear that we're not expendable. I rather f**k up this world than let him treat us like we are,"

"Okay," she laughs. "Phase two. Christ, a part of me always thought you were f*****g joking,"

"Me too," Carson laughs.

"I am," she laughs.

"No, you're not," Lucien grins.

"World Domination," Carson shakes his head. "Okay, try to leave the bodies intact. Dylan, prepare twelve posts along the sidewalk in front of the club. Lucien set up your camera on the street. Nat, Marco, close it off. B, you and Dec ready to stream?"

"Always," the two of them answer.

"Ahsan, you and I are going to take all twelve bodies out when we're done," he takes a deep breath and lets out slowly. "This is it. We're turning the table on all of them. Are you sure you want to do this now?"

"We're all setting out next year," B.B. nods and takes his hand. "By then, I want them to know that they're not to f**k with any of us. There is no other way anymore. They made that pretty clear that it's always going to be us versus them. Our parents-" she pauses. "They didn't have what we do. They brought us together. We might not agree on everything but this is one thing we can agree on. They've taken everything from us for generations. We have everything we need to take it back.

"We can't just live like this anymore. Our parents did not sacrifice themselves so we live with a chain around our necks. We can do this. By all means. If that makes us the monsters, so be it. We'll be the monsters they made us out to be. But we'll do it our way. This world should belong to us. We've bled and died for them and have got nothing for it. That stops now. If we're going to protect humanity, we're going to do it the only way we know how,"

"Amen," the Hellbourne Stone bows their head to her.

"To Engrossing Death," Delilah grins. We all repeat it.

"Let's begin," B.B. turns to Stacy.

The little redhead grins and jumps into her arms. B.B. places her hand on her head and whispers something in her ear. B.B. holds up one of the white masks for her to take. We all step back when Stacy walks up to the ledge. She holds her hands up and takes a deep breath. A loud predatory screech vibrates through the air just before she jumps. The little redhead breaks apart into a kaleidoscope of death. The swarm of butterflies sweeps the street. The humans below begin to drop. All of them.

"What is she doing to them?" Delilah asks.

"It's a pheromone that only works on mortals. It smells like honey. To our kind it does something else," she smirks.

"What does it do?" I ask.

"It's an aphrodisiac, but since she's marked. We're immune to it. It only works on her mate,"

"Shane? Why did she choose him?" Carson asks almost annoyed.

"Watch," she presses her index finger to her lips.

From somewhere among the takuaches who were gathered for their little car meet, a warning rumbling sound greets the kaleidoscope. A huge orange and black tiger jumps onto one of the trucks. Shane Halestorm sits on the truck looking up at the little black specks and paws at them playfully. We all laugh when she swarms around him and then heads toward the club.

"Stay with him," Carson tells Lucien.

"Let's go," Lucien steps onto the edge of the building where Stacy just jumped off of. Delilah, Jimenez, and I follow him. I glance back at B.B. She's standing behind Carson with Dec, Victor, and Dylan. She smiles and gives me a nod.

I remember the first time I laid eyes on this girl. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect her to be everything she's become. Not just for me, but all of us. She was this timid little girl who was afraid of the world. She was afraid of herself. I've watched her struggle with everything she is. Everything we are. I never thought it would be more than a simple exchange between a devil and a snake.

I've prided myself on my beliefs. Everything I've been taught from the moment I took my first breath. I was born and bred to fight a war that was never mine to fight. She's made me see that. I promised her that she'd find faith in me and she has but I never thought that she'd do the same for me. What did I believe in before her? Why did I believe in that if it never brought me peace? When it only ever brought me pain and rage?

Not her.

Belladonna Blackstone has given me something I didn't know I was missing. Love, family, a home. All I've done is take from her and she's willingly given me whatever I ask for without hesitation. Herself, Jimenez, and all the pretty little things she's gifted all of us from the moment we met. From the moment she claimed us. Connected us. She deserves to be free from the emptiness she was dealt when her father sold his soul to that demon. She's more than what he wants her to be and we need to show him that. She has every right to demand answers. These little half-assed answers aren't enough for any of us. If we're going to play this game with him, we need to know exactly what it is we're getting into.

Ro hands me a mask. I look up at him and take it. He gives me a nod. We both slip the mask on and jump down to join the others. We head toward the back of the club.

"This is it," Lucien catches our attention. "We're complete," he takes a deep breath and smiles. "It's taken us a long time to get here. She's been resilient but she's finally where we need her to be," he looks over at Delilah. "We have to show her that we can do this. From here on, we have to stop fighting her. That includes you,"

"Especially you," Natalie adds. "You've f****d us all enough, Del. Let her show us what she's got,"

"Okay," she nods lowering her head. Lucien pinches her chin and makes her look up at him.

"That's not what she means. Whatever the f**k you are, you're still one of us. That doesn't make you any less than her. It's what she's been trying to tell you all along. We all have a role to play if this is going to work. There are nine pieces for a reason. We can do this,"

"We can," I agree. "As soon as we get inside, we form a circle. No one gets past us. Those things are vicious. She's right to be afraid of them. To use them for this. These things are savages and they have B.B.'s blood. We can't let them leave,"

"You have experience with them?" Delilah asks.

"Not personally, no. But I grew up in the Fringe and I've seen the kind of damage just one of these things can do. They have two hearts. Center chest. Stomach. One shot won't be enough. The shift they can move them around and they heal rapidly,"

"Maybe that's something you should have told all of us," Marcos growls.

"She knows," Lucien says. "Victor does too. Try to keep the bodies in one piece. Remember, we need to put them up outside. Ready?"

"Ready," we all say.

"San, Ro. You two take the rear. Watch our six. Del,"

"Go it," she nods. "Marc, Nat,"

We all check our weapons one last time and I take our positions. I press my body against the back door and take hold of the knob. I close my eyes waiting for the signal from B.B. I feel the gentle caress when she takes her position. I open my eyes and laugh. I rip the door open. Lucien moves in followed by the others. I let the heat in my body sweep over me. My devil is on full alert and ready to serve under the sway of his snake. Because that's what she is. Our snake. Our girl. She's everything and we're finally going to show her that we deserve to bow to everything that she is. Us and the rest of this f*****g world.