Hallows: Pretty Snakes & Devils

In The Shadow Of...

Motionless In White- Eternally Yours

Carson

There's an unfamiliar tremble in her eyes. It's wild. I'm used to it but not in her eyes. I've seen that kind of rage in Lucien and Delilah just before they snap. This thing with that f*****g demon has gotten to her badly. She changes into something comfortable and right away I know she's not okay. She's wearing dark blue skinny jeans and a fitted dark green button-up. The three top buttons are undone showing off her beautiful round perky breasts perfectly. Her sleeves are folded up to her elbows. She's got on black flats. Her hair is up in a high ponytail and she's got her new glasses on. B.B. only dressed like that when she was on the pom-pom squad. Back when she dumbed herself down to fit in with all the bimbos.

"What are you wearing?" Delilah voices what we're probably all thinking. B.B. looks down at her outfit but doesn't say a thing as she slips on her lab coat.

"What's happening?" Lucien asks me as she goes over to the glass box where Victor is waiting for her.

Vic has Joel Burstein expertly tied to a chair. As soon as he sees her he does a double take at her chest. He looks back at me and I just shrug. B.B. loves showing off her legs. I mean those things go on for days. Don't even get me started on her perfect round ass. B.B. doesn't show off her chest like that. She always covers it up. Sure, she makes sure they're perfectly outlined in whatever she's wearing but she never shows them off like that. I'd take her over my f*****g lap if anyone leered at her because of it.

I know it's not her fault but men are just-well men. She knows that. It's why she tucks them away. It would drive all six of us crazy. I wouldn't be able to keep my hands to myself and my paranoia would ruin us both. She doesn't even try to cover them up with her lab coat. Who is this display for? The f*****g hunter?

"B.B.," Ahsan is the one that snaps.

"Yeah?" she answers him without looking back at him and I know enough about him to not want to see the look on his face. Vic is looking at her like she's lost her got damned mind. He looks up at Lucien and me with a crazy grin. Ahsan is the chillest of us all but his temper is as explosive as his hobbies. When it comes to B.B. he holds nothing back.

"B.B.," he repeats letting his anger leak into his tone.

"What?" she growls tilting her head enough to give him a raging side eye. Lucien covers his mouth.

"Oh s**t," Ro whispers from behind me.

Ahsan snaps and marches right up to her gripping her ponytail in his hand and pulls her up from where she had been crouching, inspecting the hunter's stump.

"I am f*****g talking to you," he growls turning her head so she can look at him.

"I'm pretty sure I answered you both times," she spits back her voice filled with venom. "What. Do. You. Want. Ahsan?"

"f**k," Dec shakes his head.

"Go change your shirt," he starts to push her out of the box and she shoves him but he doesn't move. His skin starts to turn bright blue. He's fighting it but since we've been linked, fighting the devil is not as easy as it used to be.

"Or what?" she challenges him. "What are you going to do, Ahsan? Hmm? Bend me over your lap?"

"Don't f*****g tempt me," he growls leaning into her. His eyes ink black. She looks his face over and scoffs. "Belladonna, go change your shirt. Right now,"

"You should change your shirt," Victor says keeping his eyes on the floor. She glances back at him and then turns her head to scan the rest of us. The look in her eyes is scaring me. She wants one of us to snap. f*****g little psycho.

"Drop it," I shake my head. They all turn to look at me.

"Excuse me?" Ahsan sneers at me.

"I said drop it. If she wants to wear that shirt, let her,"

"You've got to be f*****g joking," he growls looking down at her chest angrily.

"You want to get into it with her while she's like this?" I ask him. "Any of you? Do you not remember the last time we forced her to say something when she wasn't ready? She told half of us to f**k off. Just let her have this. Back off,"

He looks down at her angrily and she rips her arm out from his grasp. She fixes her lab coat and crouches back down to what used to be the hunter's hand. I glance back at Ro and motion him to get his guy out of the f*****g box before she rips him a new one. Ahsan is livid. Past being angry with her. She's probably going to pay for it later but right now, we need to give her some space. She's officially teetering in two different directions and I am not going to be caught in the middle this time.

"I don't like this," Lucien places his hand on his chest.

"Why don't you guys wait outside?" I offer. They all turn to look at me. "Vic and I will take care of her,"

"I don't want to leave her like that," Lucien shakes his head.

"Just us," Ro pushes Ahsan toward the exit. "You four can stay,"

He escorts Ahsan out of the lab. Delilah and the others follow him out.

"Moody b***h," Delilah whispers.

"I would be too if my demon overlord pulled the s**t he did," Dylan defends her.

"She's losing it," Dec says quietly.

B.B. straightens up and walks out of the box and starts putting things together on a tray. She puts the tray on a little metal cart and takes a syringe out of one of the metal medical drawers. She walks back into the box. The rest of us get closer to see what she's going to do to him. She starts with the syringe.

"What is that?" Vic asks her. She looks over at him.

"My grandfather used this to keep his victims paralyzed but completely lucid. He calls it serum sixteen," she answers.

"No," the hunter shakes his head as she removes the tip of the syringe and gives it a couple of flicks before turning it on him. "Don't you f*****g dare. That man was a f*****g monster,"

B.B. takes the syringe and stabs his stump with it. He cries out as she pushes the end of the syringe filling him with the yellow liquid inside of it. She then takes a rubber tie and wraps it around the stump tightly making him struggle in the chair.

"You f*****g b***h," he cries out saliva spilling out of his mouth. There are tears and buggers streaming down his face. "You're going to pay for this," he spews. "I swear on all that's holy, you'll pay for this,"

"I assure you on all that's unholy that I know I will and long before I die," she taps his head and then reaches up to fix her hair. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. When she's done, she crosses her arms over her chest pushing her breast up a little more. Vic is no longer trying to avert his gaze. His eyes are completely focused on them. She turns around to face us and smiles. "I'm sure you guys have questions,"

"Are you okay?" Lucien doesn't hesitate to ask. "You got crazy eyes,"

"These aren't my eyes," she looks down at her chest and back up at him with a smirk.

"B.B.," he smiles. "You put them out there. I'm not going to not look,"

She grins and comes out of the box with Victor trailing behind her. She sits up on the counter behind us and leans back onto her hand only showing us more over her perfect f*****g titties. We're all looking at them now. I mean she looks like something out of a wet dream in that top. It's molded to her body perfectly. I mean I love seeing the way her breasts pop out of her bras with the clips in the front. The sports bras with the zippers. I doubt she has any that are held together from the back anymore. Just like she doesn't have jeans without the zipper going down the back of her ass. This is our fault. We did that and now here are the consequences. I have a feeling that things are only going to get worse. Every time she evolves, she just gets more beautiful.

"Are you sure?" Dec asks what feels like a whole hour later.

"How do I get past this?" she asks looking us over. I look up at her hearing the pain in her voice. "He did that. Why would he do that?"

"Baby," Lucien steps into her.

She instantly wraps her arms around his waist. He places his hand on her head letting her cry. Thank f**k because I am hard as iron right now and I wouldn't be able to f*****g stop myself from touching them. Then she'd be crying because I'm an insensitive bastard and she wouldn't be wrong. It's moments like this that make me feel ashamed about it but the rest of the time I couldn't care less.

"You don't," Vic speaks up. He comes over to us and sits on the counter next to her. "He broke your trust, B. All of ours. We have every right to be upset about it. Especially you. Your reaction was justified,"

"That's not helping," she sniffles. Dec brings over a box of Nightmare Before Christmas tissues and offers it to her. She pulls a couple out and wipes her face before blowing her nose. Lucien takes them and tosses them into the min bin under the table next to them. "Then he tried to hit me. Like I was in the wrong,"

"You do know he's a demon, right?" Dec asks her. She glares at him. "I'm not excusing his behavior, Lil Mama. I'm just saying. That's the reason why,"

"Do you guys think he's really going to punish my parents because I stabbed him?"

I laugh because she really f*****g stabbed the thing we're all absolutely terrified of. B.B. straight up has no regard for her life whatsoever and while it drives me insane, I have to respect the fact that she stood her ground against that thing. The rest of us were frozen in place. I didn't know what to do. I saw the intent in both of them and the power surge that followed just set off all my flight instincts. I didn't even know I had those but I was frozen in place by self-preservation and not being able to leave her.

"Why don't we take care of this?" I point at the box and step closer to her. I button the last two buttons on her top but it's only making things worse. They look like they're about to pop off. Victor laughs looking down at the buttons that are holding on for dear life. "Why are you wearing this?"

"Part of my compulsion abilities is focus of the victim," we all growl at her. "It'll scale over once I use Eve's vision,"

"All of it?" Dec asks looking down at her chest. The top button finally gives out and falls in between her breasts.

"All of it," she confirms and reaches in to take the button out. She tucks her thumb under her index finger and places the button on top before flicking it up in the air. Victor snags it before Dec gets a chance to.

"b***h," he growls at him.

"It's not my fault you're slow as s**t," Vic smirks.

"Why were you being rude to Ahsan?" Dec asks her. "You know that f**k is nuts,"

"He was being rude to me," she rolls her eyes. Dec looks over at me and shakes his head. "I answered him both times. I wanted to see my blade's handy work,"

"Don't touch me," the hunter shouts when she goes over to him but he's not moving anymore.

"Baby, get my camera trolley by the big computer," she tells Lucien. Lucien goes behind the glass box and brings it over to her. She takes a camera and crouches down in front of the hunter again to take pictures.

"Get away from me," the hunter blinks but he doesn't thrash around this time. He's completely still.

"What do you think was in that syringe?" I ask her. "Can he feel us?"

"I don't know," she says standing up straight. "Hit him,"

"Really?" Victor laughs.

"Yeah, just don't knock him out," she nods. "Give me a sec,"

B.B. sets up the camera trolley locking the wheels in place and extending the arms where a video camera is hanging from. She adjusts it so it's facing the hunter. She turns back and turns on the giant monitor. She stands in front of the camera taking her mini iPad and a stylus. She clears her throat and looks at the camera.

"Serum sixteen test twenty-eight," she says and looks back at the hunter. Test twenty-eight? What the f**k? "The subject is completely immobile," she taps him on the head. "Sensory seems responsive," she looks up at me and nods. I slap the hunter across the face making him shout. "He can feel that," she smirks. "Success,"

"You said test twenty-eight," Vic smiles. "What happened the other twenty-seven victims?"

"Oh, uh. The subjects reacted violently to the serum. Damian had to put most of them down," she says writing something on the iPad. I laugh at the hunter's horrified expression. "Grandpa is going to love that I figured it out," she puts the tablet down and turns to the hunter. "Mr. Burstien,"

"f**k you," he growls.

"Let me show you something," she says and goes around the chair. She turns him so he's facing the monitor outside the box. She takes a little remote out from her coat and puts on a video. "These are the last moments of Vanessa's life,"

"No," the hunter starts to breathe hard.

"Yes," she says putting a set of headphones on him.

The doctors on the screen are moving around the room frantically. She's bleeding out. I can't hear what she's saying but it's obvious that she's begging for help. She looks defeated, confused, and in pain. B.B. isn't watching the video she's looking down at the man who caused this. When the video stops. She takes the headphones off him.

"You b***h," he cries out.

"You did that to her," B.B. turns him back to where he was. As she's moving him, I see that she has him there because there's a drain right under him. "She did everything you ever asked of her, Joel,"

"Don't call me that, you f*****g monster,"

"She loved you. You were her father. I don't understand how you can do that to her," she stands directly in front of you. "How you can put your beliefs before the little girl you once held in your arms. She was your baby. Give me something or I'm going to let him have his way with you," she looks back at Vic. "And I can tell you he's really really good with his hands,"

"I'm not telling you s**t," he looks between B.B. and Victor.

"I'd like to get into your new toys, amor," Victor smiles at her. She gives him a single nod. He walks out of the box and comes back with a rolled-up leather pouch. He sets it down on the cot and rolls it open. There are surgical tools inside.

"What the f**k do you guys do when we're not around?" Lucien asks going over to him. "Why am I never invited to the fun s**t?"

"You're here now," she smiles. The hunter's eyes turn towards Lucien but he can't move. I reach out to him. His eyes immediately shoot to mine.

"Come here, baby," I offer her my hand. She takes it and lets me pull her to me.

"No," the hunter looks between us. "God, please no,"

"Let's try before we get all medieval on his ass,"

She nods. I hold her still in front of me and lean into her I tilt her head back calling the devil forward. My vision turns red as I look down into her eyes. She doesn't hesitate to respond. Her eyes blacken. There's a silver lining around her pupil framing it perfectly. The snake is still very present in her and the glow of her reptilian eyes sends shivers down my spine. She's not wrong. Her skin darkens and pretty little scales start forming along her neck and down her chest The scales look exactly like the ones on Eve's body. I can't resist touching them. She hisses appreciatively. I grin when the hunter starts praying.

"That's not going to help you," B.B. straightens up. His eyes widen when they land on her new form.

"Lean in," I push her forward. "Focus on his eyes," she leans in staring into his eyes. "Feel his essence. What he's feeling. But be careful. Don't let him in too much. His emotions can take you with him,"

It takes her a bit but when she gasps her entire body trembles I know she has him. The hunter stops talking. I've done this to several hunters since we started placing our marks on them and a lot of them are trained to fight compulsion. Their bodies are pumped with truth serum from a very young age. It's how they get them to be so complacent. They brainwash them into believing that the way of the Light is the truth.

David was able to break out of that because of Dante. His time here cleared a lot of that and the constant feeding must have given him some kind of immunity because that s**t no longer works on him. Not even with his mark off. This man has been conditioned and he's going to suffer for it.

"Joel," B.B. says his name his eyes tremble a bit. "Joel Burstein,"

"Stop," he whispers.

"Joel, who was Vanessa Burstein to you?" she asks him gently.

"Please," his body twitches. She leans back into me looking him over.

"Who is Vanessa Burstein, Joel?" she asks him again. His body twitches again. She looks back at me and smiles. "I need to run some tests,"

"Why?" I ask. Her features go back to normal as she walks away and then comes back with a couple of tubes and a butterfly needle.

"There's something in his system that's fighting the serum. That could be the reason why the others reacted the way they did,"

"It's truth serum," I tell her. She pauses as she sets up to get some blood out of him. She continues and then takes the tubes filled with blood over to one of her workstations. "Who are you calling?"

"Damian," she says as the machine in front of her starts spinning. She sets the phone down and starts pulling glass trays out.

"The hunter?" Dec asks from behind us.

"Oh, yeah. You can do your thing, guys. I've lost interest," she waves us off. Lucien starts laughing.

"What's up, Madness?" Damian answers.

"Do you remember Griffin Leopard?" she asks.

"The second subject for the serum sixteen thing, yeah,"

"They have barbituates in their system. It's why they react the way they do. Carson just told me. The younger they are, the higher the dose. It's why the younger hunters fight it so hard. I have a male subject here, approximately fifty-three. A hundred and ninety pounds. I'm running a substance test on it,"

"He's lucid?"

"Mhm, and we just tried to compel. His body twitched but he didn't seize like the other subjects. He is completely immobile but he's been firing off some pretty heavy insults and his fear is completely overwhelming his coping abilities. He stopped praying as soon as I had him,"

"You haven't been able to connect with any of the subjects," he says impressed.

"Carson is here. He's helping me,"

"Would it be weird if you come get me so I can get a closer look?"

"Yes," the four of us say.

"Not at all. I'll set a ten-minute timer. I don't want a repeat of last time," she snorts. He laughs and hangs up.

"What happened last time?" I ask.

"I popped over to him and Delilah was doing stuff to him," she shivers. "His pants were around his ankles,"

"The trauma in her voice," Lucien laughs. "I feel you, Baby. I have to live with her and sometimes, Ash is there too,"

"Blegh," she shakes her head.

"The hunter?" Vic asks.

"You can do whatever you want with him. He doesn't need to be alive for us to run our tests. Damian actually prefers to work with their bones. Tells him how long they've been subjected to torture. There was a woman his reaper caught for us who had a lot of physical trauma. She gave us a lot of information regarding their training methods. She didn't even fight it. She wanted us to end it for her. It was actually really sad. Hunters don't have it easy. I haven't met a single one that wasn't stripped of their freedom the way David was,"

"That's what we need," Joel Burstein scoffs. "Sympathy from a f*****g demon,"

"I'm not a demon, dumb ass. But I know some and I can tell you that none of them are sympathetic. Anything either of us can do to you is amateur compared to what awaits you in hell,"

"You are mistaken. Those who live in the shelter of the most high will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty," he spits in Victor's direction.

"You murdered your daughter," B.B. shouts slamming her hands on the metal table. "You will be going straight to hell and I will personally be escorting you, motherfucker. I will be handing you over to my father and I assure you, his shadow is a lot mightier than your brainwashed bullshit," she walks right up to him and slaps across the face so hard the chair falls over. She grips him by his hair and sits him back leaning into him so close their noses almost touch. "And if you spit at any of my guys again I will keep you alive for days with no food or water. You will sit in your own s**t until I say you can go,"

"Monster," he's breathing hard.

"I can be," she looks him over. "It's up to you which one you want taking care of you," she stands straight holding her arm out to him. Eve snaps at him from under her lab coat. "Or her," she looks up. Remy materializes behind him placing her hands on his shoulders. She comes around looking him over. "The choice is up to you, Joel," her phone starts to ring. "I have to go get Damian. You can do what you want to him,"

She vanishes. His eyes look around frantically for her.

"I am riding a little bit of a high," Dec laughs. "Did you feel that?"

"You upset my girl," Victor stands in front of Joel holding a pick.

"Do you know how hard it's going to be to make her smile again?" Lucien releases his claws and reaches for the vest covering his chest. They cut right through the material.

"I'm just here 'cause this s**t is fun, man," Dec spins a scalpel in his hand. "My specialty is cruelty. The more they hurt you the stronger I get,"

"My princess is upset, Joel," I shrug. "She wants an outlet. You and me buddy, we're going to give her just that,"