Hallows: Pretty Snakes & Devils

Chance

Underoath- When The Sun Sleeps

B.B.

When I open my eyes, I'm laying in our bed with my guys. My head hurts so much I can feel and hear my pulse. My stomach feels like I haven't eaten in days. The last time I felt like this was the day Ro almost died. The room is dark and it's really quiet. I sit up trying to think back on what happened after the dive. I reach over to the latch and open it to get a water bottle. I get up and crawl out of the pit so I can get some Alkaselter from the bathroom. I open the drawer and take one. I sit on the counter crushing the two circles. I drink most of the water before I empty the packet into it.

As soon as the bubbles reach my belly I start to feel better. When I jump down I notice a dark stain on the floor. I reach for the light. It's not a stain. It's blood. I panic and follow it into the bathroom area. The tub is filled with water and blood. I walk back to the pit and see the guys all in there. They're all asleep. I look down at myself to see that the blood didn't come from me. I'm dressed in a pair of sleeping shorts and the pink T-shirt Lucien gave me.

"You're awake," I scream when the huge demon steps out from the shadows by the T.V. area.

"What's wrong?" Carson sits up. The others follow.

"What happened?" Victor groans.

"f**k if I know. What did you do to us, B?" Dec asks.

"Uh, we have a guest," I tell them. They stand and climb out of the pit. Chance looks them over curiously.

"Hey," Lucien greets him.

"Hello," he greets them with a curt bow. "How do you all feel?"

"Like s**t," Ro answers.

"Do you have more of that?" Chance points at my water bottle.

"Yeah, umm. Water in the mini-fridge, guys. Don't drink it all," I go back to get some more packs and a bottle of Tylenol. I put three in my mouth and finish off my own water bottle. I crush the packets and hand one to each of them as I take a seat at the edge of the pit. I look up to see that Chance is really standing there. "So, the blood?"

"What blood?" Dec asks.

"s**t, that wasn't a dream?" Carson asks. "That really happened?"

"What happened?" Ro asks.

I look over at the bathroom and vaguely remember the white shadow surrounded by red. It was Chance. Then Remy and the snakes. s**t, the burning on my arm. I lift my arm to see the deep scarring embedded in my skin. Seven linked circles each one with Hellian symbols decorating them. Carson removes his hoodie. He has it too.

"I wasn't the only one?" I ask.

"Why would you think you would be the only one?" Chance asks. He crouches down next to me lifting my arm to inspect it. "Not everything is about you, Little Death,"

"No, I'm just the only one taking all the hits," I scoff. He smirks.

"Yes, well you are the only one who can," he shrugs. He sits on the floor and lowers his feet into the pit. I lean back to look at his tail.

"Is she fascinated by your tails like this?" he asks them.

"Yeah," Carson and Dec answer.

"She's into my horns," Ahsan smirks.

"Why don't you have horns?" I ask Chance.

"Because I'm not a devil," he answers. "I'm a half-angel. Half demon entity,"

"That checks out," I shrug. The guys laugh. "Uh, what the f**k is this, Chance?"

"I am surprised that they've not appeared sooner," he admits. He reaches for my arm again. Carson growls at him this time. The devils are watching his every move. The crows are just watching. "May I?" he asks for permission. I hold up my hand. His skin is ice cold. Mine breaks out in goosebumps. He lets go. "Forgive me,"

"How long have you been out of hell?" I scoot closer to him. I take his hand in mine to warm him. His eyebrows pull together as he looks down at the way I'm holding him.

"Since Friday,"

"Today is Friday,"

"Today is Sunday," he corrects me. I look over at the guys.

"What?" I laugh. "We've been asleep for two days?"

"Yes," he nods. "Don't worry. I alerted the others. Also, David-"

"You didn't," I growl at him. He smiles.

"It did cross my mind but no. I did not kill your human pet, Little Death. David's sons were born last night,"

"No," I growl and start looking around for my phone.

"Calm yourself," he places his hand over mine. "There is nothing you can do now. I'll let you all go as soon as I am finished explaining what happened to you,"

"Aww man," I pull my legs up and wrap my arms around them. "Please, tell me my parents were there at least,"

"Of course. They delivered the soul that's been evading a deal that was made some time ago. I rewarded them. I regret to inform you that the vessel didn't make it,"

"The vessel?"

"Uh, yes. Is that not what you call the maker?"

"Vanessa?" I ask. "The woman that carried the triplets?"

"Yes,"

"Oh, s**t," Lucien gets up and comes to sit next to me.

"If it helps, she was a good soul. She is at peace now," he adds.

"That does help," I nod. When I finally allow myself to really look at him, he's pale. The shimmer in his skin is gone. "Why do you look like that?"

"How?"

"You're not all shiny," Lucien says.

"Ah, yes. High demons can leave hell for short periods of time. The longer the weaker become unless we feed,"

"Okay, so tell us what is happening to us and go home, Chance," I hurry him.

"You were able to split your soul into seven pieces,"

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" I suggest when he doesn't elaborate.

"Of course. This is part of what you are or rather what I turned you into when I took you out of the veil and brought you into the world of the living. You were between life and death the night I removed you from your mother's womb. Your essence was but a spec when I found it. In order to bring you back, your father had to offer up the souls of the living. Normally five to ten would have sufficed. However, you are a vessel of two deities. You can't live without either just like your father,"

"Wait, but what if I pass my familiar to my children?"

"You are not like the others," he shakes his head.

"You are what you are so your children will be as you are. Your children will not simply be your own. They will also be sons or daughters of death and snake as well as devil and crow,"

"Holy s**t," Carson voices for the rest of us.

"But Delilah isn't a reaper," I point out.

"No, your mother was human. Delilah was not strong enough to inherit both. When you were born as young as you were, I placed you in an altered Hallow's serum so that it may replace what your mother was no longer capable of giving you. Therefore removing any traces of her human blood in you,"

"So why do I look like her?" I sneer playfully.

"You simply grew to what you were already meant to look like," he smiles. "B.B. It was never your destiny to be human or anything close to it. You were brought into this world so that you could pass into mine. I've simply prolonged that by shifting the balance between what you mortals refer to as good and evil. Light and darkness. Heaven and hell. You are the first to be brought into the darkness but you are not the first soul meant to be divine. There are stories of these warriors in many different cultures. Perseus born of the light. Medusa born of the darkness. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, so I'm basically Medusa. Has any vessel born to the darkness ever won?"

"Not for a very long time," he admits. "And it's mostly because those who are chosen lose their way. Like you, they suffered greatly at the hands of light. Grief as you know, can be the greatest enemy any mortal can know. Being stripped of all that we love can be devastating,"

"How high of a possibility is it that I end up feral like them?" I ask. He glances at the guys and then lowers his gaze. That's all I really need to know, isn't it?

"I don't know. It takes real darkness and desperation for us to create what you are. It's what your father offered me. He fed me that night and his essence was so powerful, it changed me. I wasn't always this strong. I am half-light. Which means half my power. I can never feed the angelic side of me because like my father, I cannot enter the gates of heaven. But it also means that our rules are different. Because of what I am, I can cross the veil and guide you through what must be done just as the gods helped Perseus,"

"Holy s**t,"

"And because you are linked to me, and they are linked to you, you can all cross the veil without ever really dying. So as long as your vessels are intact or can be put back together, even if the light cuts you down, you can just keep coming back. It's why the light is so threatened by you. Why they've been hunting you and your father from the moment he was discovered. They know their reign is over. In death, you will cross into hell and you will take your place among our people,"

"What does this have to do with the marks?" I ask.

"You are Wrath," he holds my hand up."Pride," he points at Carson and taps the mark above my wrist before moving to the next one. "Envy," and looks over at Dec. "Lust," he smiles at Ro. His face turns bright red and he lets his head fall forward. "Gluttony," he turns to look at Lucien. "Greed," Ahsan. "And Sloth," he stops at Victor and the last mark at the top of my bicep. "Wrath is not a very easy sin to put together. There has to be an equal amount of good and bad in a soul. There has to be a drive for it. Without one, wrath is just senseless pain. The soul withers away and turns bitter. Mindless,"

"Like Black Death," I whisper.

"Yes, exactly," he nods. "When Wrath reveals itself to the other sins. Body and soul, it locks in the bond between the seven of them. You all accepted your Wrath's love as she has accepted your sin,"

"I thought we were all supposed to mark one another the way B.B. marked us," Ahsan says.

"If she were a Hallow like the rest of you, yes. However, B.B. is a new breed. Her vessel is shared with all of you therefore she holds the advantage over your half-human ones,"

"So, basically we're special because we fell in love with her?" Dec asks. The others smack him.

"Destiny isn't always that simple," he shakes his head.

"That's a yes but he doesn't want to hurt your feelings," Vic says and the others laugh. Even Chance cracks a smile.

'This happened because I took the dive," I say.

"I'm not familiar with that term," he looks me over.

"It's what Vic and I call it. It's when I share my essence with them instead of feeding. Kind of like a Kiss of Death but in a less desperate situation,"

"Oh, I understand. Yes, that is how the marks came to be,"

"Why didn't it happen when I put up the wards?"

"You didn't have their release inside of you," he answers nonchalantly. Vic and Carson both snort.

"And that's a key ingredient?"

"Yes, rituals must be followed precisely for them to work," he nods. "It's not safe for you to do this often. The amount of power you could have-"

"Yeah, yup. We are aware," I cut him off. The others laugh.

"And you still took the risk," he glares at me.

"Not on purpose. And we're all properly fed so there was no feeding. Also, only Dec and Carson were in the same room when we did the deed that morning. This is all Vic's fault,"

"I don't mind taking the blame for this," he smirks. "Question," he raises his hand. "For the big guy. Hey, that's the first time I'm not the big guy in the room,"

"You still are. He's the bigger guy," Carson laughs.

"Ask your question, Victor," Chance is purring. Is he...happy?

"Okay, primero, you can call me Vic,"

"Sure," he nods.

"If I wanted to give you a gift, how would we get it to hell without it burning to ashes?" he asks. The guys all turn to look at Chance. When I look at him, he tenses up the way he did when I gave him my I.D. card. He's so awkwardly adorable.

"You hand it to me directly so that I can push it through the veil myself," he answers.

"You said you were going to let us take the extra one with us to New York," Ahsan kicks at him.

"f**k you," Vic flips him off and jumps out of the pit in a single hop. "The demon deserves it more than you. He brought B.B. back from the dead so she can find us. What have you done other than give her a headache?"

"Alright, I see why you vibe with him," Lucien bumps Carson who is on his side laughing at Ahsan.

"Come over here," Vic waves us over. "I don't know if you know this, Chance but I like to paint,"

"I did," he nods.

"Last weekend, B.B. and Carson came over and we created a f*****g masterpiece," he points at Lucien. Lucien takes our hands and leads us over to the center of the couch and makes us sit down. He hands Chance his iPad Mini with the pictures from Carson's video.

"I agree," he stares at the picture. I just roll my eyes.

"And when we gave the images to this demented f**k," he points at Lucien. "He made it better,"

He pulls the white sheet off the thing leaning against the window. I cover my mouth to keep myself from laughing. The round black frame is beautiful. I'll give them that. In the center is the picture of my body and the canvas over a black and gold marble surface. There are six Hellian even numbers positioned around my picture like a clock. Leaning against each number is a picture of each of them. Carson at two. Lucien at four. Ro at six. Vic at eight. Ahsan at ten. Dec at twelve.

Chance leans into me and whispers in my ear. "What is that?"

"You don't know what a clock is? Do you not tell the time in Hell?" I laugh.

"No, time is a mortal invention used to keep track of their average life spans. Honestly, it's a very harsh form of punishment. I've only heard of these devices because Ashmedai uses them to torture souls,"

"Aww, do you hate it?" Lucien asks.

"No, of course not. This is a very elegant design. May I ask why it's so big?"

"We don't have a clock in here and it's going to go there so we can all see it," Vic points at our spots. That's right. The demons didn't want clocks. Chance just answered why. "Carson accidentally ordered two giant clocks and there are no returns. We were going to let Lucien take this back to New York with him,"

"I wasn't informed of that," Lucien shakes his head. "I have my tiles of her pictures on my B.B. is fire-wall,"

"I forgot you were calling it that," I laugh.

The entire wall where his bed is pushed up against is covered in ceramic tiles that he's printed his favorite pictures of me on. He has a really cool collection. Better than my camera roll that's for sure. It freaks me out a little so I pretend it's not there when I visit. He's calling the picture of me they all have as their screen saver the Carson and Victor feature. They should be honored. He's convinced he's the only one that can take the perfect shots of me.

"And you are giving me one?" Chance stands up and goes over to the clock. The clock is only a couple of inches taller than him. "In exchange for what?"

"Chance doesn't believe in casual gifting. The garden was a gift for my school I.D. card from sophomore year," I explain.

"Oh," they all look over at him.

"Nothing," Carson answers.

"But if it makes you feel better, a thank-you gift," Vic adds.

"A thank-you gift?" Chance looks at him. "What are you grateful for?"

"B.B." they all answer at the same time.

"No, I too am grateful for her. Gratitude should be expressed to her parents," he shakes his head. I laugh at their expressions.

"Holy s**t, he is B.B.'s soulmate," Vic shakes his head.

"We're all her soulmates," Lucien says.

"Not entirely true," Chance shakes his head. "You do belong to her but you are all a key piece of her soul and her soul belongs to me,"

"Aww, that's actually cute. We're all one soul," I smile when they all stare back at him. "I love that. It explains so much,"

"Is there anything you all want?" he asks them. They all look at one another.

"The f*****g changeling gone," Ahsan doesn't hesitate to say.

"Yeah," the rest of them agree.

"Oh, I cannot interfere with mortal issues directly but I can trap the changeling in the form there are currently in,"

"Would you be able to tell us what she looks like?" I ask. He closes his eyes and nods.

"She looks like you," he says. He snaps his fingers. "And she will remain that way until she is eliminated. Mark her for me, my love. Do you promise?"

"Yes," I nod.

"Good," he bows his head. His left eye turns red when he straightens up. His eyes flutter and a bloodied tear leaks out of his eye. When he rubs it he smears it all over his face.

"Oh, s**t," I reach for the Kleenex box by the T.V. and offer him some tissues. "You should go home,"

"I've been here a long time. I hate to ask because it will be very difficult for me when I get home-"

"You have to feed on us?" I ask. His eyes focus on me.

"Just you at the moment. I can't touch them. They're half human still,"

"Will that change now that they're bound to me?" I ask.

"They will change because you will change them. That is all I can answer in regards to that,"

"Mmm, little red flags going up," Lucien raises his hand.

"Don't worry, I can't interact with her too much either," he assures them.

"What do I do?" I ask.

"Don't move, Little Death,"

I sit back and stay as still as I can. Chance's massive body hovers over mine. His big hand squeezes my cheeks enough to make my lips pucker a little. He leans in brushing his lips against mine. He tugs on my essence the way I do the guys when I take a sliver. All the tension in my body fades away and I go limp just enjoying the way he sucks the life out of me. I watch as the busted blood vessel in his eye heals and the pale color of his skin reverts back to its beautiful shimmering glory. He growls cutting out connection.

"So, that's what that feels like," I sigh.

"f**k," he growls. His entire body trembles for a moment. His tail twitches wildly for a few seconds.

"Yeah," the guys all nod.

"It's better than life," Lucien smirks.

"Yes, it is," Chance agrees. "Thank you for the gift," he points at the clock. "I do enjoy these little visits,"

"You are welcome anytime," Carson says. "Try not to get yourself killed down there,"

"I promise," he bows his head and turns back to look at me. "Make sure she's not too reckless,"

"f**k, I don't think any of us can make that promise," Vic says making them all laugh. "Not even you bigger guy,"

"You can try," I laugh pulling myself together. "This isn't the first time you feed on me,"

"The first time, I couldn't help it. I didn't have the control I do now," he sighs, "Do try not to die again. My father has been asking when you're going to visit,"

"Aww, tell him I said hey, old man. Also, say hi to your sister for me,"

"I will," without another word, he put his hand on the clock and they both just vanished.

"That happened, right?" Ro asks. "That thing was here and we had all had a moment together?"

"Yeah," Dec drops into the cushion next to me and turns his head towards me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, he didn't take as much as last time or maybe I just have a lot more now," I shrug. "I feel really relaxed,"

"We should get some rest. We have a lot to do tomorrow," Carson pulls me up to my feet.

"I'm a little disappointed," I admit.

"With the clock?" Vic asks nervously.

"God, no. I love that thing. It's perfect," I hate it but I don't have it in me to tell them otherwise. If anyone sees it, they're never going to live it down. I already know Delilah and my dad are going to have a field day. That's a problem for another day. "I'm just upset that I can't coerce you guys into sexy time with each other in the name of science,"