Hallows: Pretty Snakes & Devils

Madness

Pierce The Veil- Wonderless

B.B.

It's cold here. Really cold. The stone here is a lot different from ours. It's huge for starters. Ours is a little pretty thing. Theirs is a big purple monstrosity that looks like someone accidentally dropped it and broke it into nine shards.

While ours is surrounded by the thick vegetation of the Hellbourne Woods, theirs is surrounded by livestock. A huge open hillside with goats and cows. I had a fun time chasing them around so that I can pet them. The baby goats demanded I play with them. David was upset I wasn't paying attention to whatever the Reaper was telling him, but come on. Baby freaking goats and baby freakin cows. Baby animals are my weakness.

"What do you feel?" David asks.

"It's not strong enough to keep anything around it alive. They don't have a bat, a snake, or a hellhound,"

"I can help with that," Ahsan says. "I can check in with headquarters. Binding rituals aren't too difficult to pull off. I'm sure there's an agent somewhere around here,"

"Okay," I give him a nod. He steps away pulling his phone out to make the call.

"That was easy," David huffs.

"What?" I glare at him.

"Nothing," he smiles and shakes his head.

"Let me show you something magical, Espinosa," I wave him over. Ro comes over while Dylan and Ahsan deal with the Fringe people.

I rearrange the stone for Remy who appears in front of me. She lets out a heavy sigh and kneels down as I hold the stone together. Remy has officially given in to me. The same way I had with her. She understands we're supposed to be a team, but she still gives me the worst of her attitude. She places her hand on the top of mine. I feel some of the warmth I've gathered since coming home slip from my center as she pushes it into the stone.

The pieces heal joining together again and it starts to glow a pretty dark purple. The area around us pulses as the stone restores its surroundings. The dry yellowing grass turns a pretty green again. Remy disappears leaving me holding the stone. I lay it on its side so it doesn't fall.

"B.B.," Chiara squeaks and jumps into my arms when I turn around. I push her away and step back. "Sorry. I forget," she says in her thick Italian accent. "Thank you, so much,"

"You're welcome. This is a temporary fix, Chiara. I was wondering why you were struggling to keep up with the rest of us. How long has your stone been incomplete?"

"A long time," she sighs. "But the stone just recently started taking back our essence," she looks back at it.

"That's because you're not feeding it enough,"

"We feed just fine," she shakes her head.

"Yes, you guys feed the way you should but a big portion of your stone is missing. It needs more. Ahsan is arranging for the Fringe to send in replacements,"

"Replacements?" she starts shaking her head.

"I know it's not going to be easy, but the longer we wait the more the stone is going to take. If not fed properly, it will drain more than what it's taking from you now. To the point where it can take all of it. You have others to look after," I remind her.

"I will inform the others," she nods reluctantly. "Will you be staying?"

"No, I have to get home. I made you a promise,"

"Thank you," she bows this time.

Her crow is beautiful. She's a tiny little thing. Her dark pixie haircut makes her look scary. Her pretty golden eyes are hidden behind hipster glasses. Her arms are covered in tattoos. She's dressed in a pleated skirt. Leather garters hold up her thigh-high stockings. A blood-red corset barely covers her heavy boobs. She is a walking hazard.

"Hai un problema?" she directs her glare at me.

"No problem," I shake my head.

"Che diavolo stai guardando, allora?" she growls.

"Your big ass t**s on display. If you don't want me to see them wear something a little more modest," I scoff. Her pupils grow big as she shoves the pretty basket in her hands into Chiara's unexpecting arms.

"Vuoi dirlo di nuovo?" she gets in my face. I laugh looking down at her.

"You are way too small to be this angry," I shake my head.

"Alessia," Chiara growls at her. She says something I don't catch but I think she just told her to look at what I just did to their stone because Alessia takes her eyes off me to look over at it. The girl growls something out and then storms off. "I am sorry about her, B.B. She's very possessive of me,"

"I know. I have three of those," I laugh. "She is so cute,"

"Yes," she agrees with a smile.

"I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name," Ahsan says from behind her.

"Chiara Romano," she nods. "Pietra Della Vita,"

He repeats her name and the name of her stone into his phone.

"Thanks, Sol. I'll let her know," he says and tucks his phone away. "They should be here tomorrow morning. Sol De Luna will be here with them to perform the binding ritual,"

"Thank you," she holds her hand out for him. He looks down at it for a second. Ro elbows him and he finally takes it.

"Whatever," he shrugs and wipes his hand on his jacket. Ro lets out a heavy sigh and shakes his head. Chiara hands me the gift basket.

"Devils," I shrug trying to excuse his behavior. Carson would have told her off. I'm convinced. She nods and says her farewell before going back to the huge bungalow they all live in.

"New guys are going to love it here," Dylan says. "Why did you bring Espinosa?"

"Yeah, f*****g useless," Ahsan adds. David sneers at him.

"Last time he was very helpful," I shrug.

"Last time?" the three of them ask.

"Yeah, a few days ago we went to London," David nods.

"You're just casually hanging out with David Espinosa?" Ro asks angrily. "Without anyone knowing?"

"What is he going to do? He's human now and doesn't have any weapons. He knows things about supernaturals that I don't. I can also throw him at stuff so I can get away,"

"Thanks," David shakes his head.

The others laugh. He knows I don't mean that. The six of us stand at the edge of the hillside just enjoying the view. David is a few feet away from us. I look them over and motion them to get closer. When we're all touching I take us home. I laugh letting them go. We land on the pillows in the library.

"You left him," Dylan covers his mouth.

"Where the hell were you guys all day?" Carson looks up at us from behind my desk.

"Go back," Dylan laughs giving me a light shove.

"Fine," I grin. I go back to find David with his phone at his ear. When he turns around to see me, he groans and lowers the phone.

"Why would you do that?" he demands. "It wasn't funny the first time when you left me on top of the Victoria Memorial and it's not f*****g funny now,"

"It's pretty funny, David," I laugh.

"B.B. you promised," he sighs.

"Come on, Dad squared. You have to admit that it's pretty funny," I offer him my hand. He takes it. I take us to his house.

"Thank you," he lets out a sigh of relief. "Do you want to come in?"

"No, thanks. I haven't seen Vic in a couple of days and I rather do that," I shrug. He smirks and waves me off.

"So much for babysitting," he rolls his eyes.

"When they're born. I have like three more months,"

"Two," he holds up two fingers.

"You haven't shown me the ultrasound," I add. He reaches into his pocket and takes out some folded-up pictures. I step into him and smile. "Tell me what I'm looking at,"

"Three boys," he answers. I look up at him, eyes wide.

"Holy s**t, David,"

"I know," he laughs. I look over the little blurry images as he points out why they believe they're boys. I laugh because they just look like weird blobs to me. There is one where I can make out a little baby foot.

"Can I keep this one?" I ask pulling it from the pile.

"Sure," he nods. The picture says baby two on it.

"Have you thought about names?"

"Your father wants at least one to be named after him," he smirks.

"And you're going to let him get away with that?"

"Yeah, little Danny," he smirks. We both laugh.

"I love that. Okay, and the rest?"

"Your mom likes Elis and Ambrose,"

"Dante, Elis, Ambrose, and David," I nod. He smiles. "You know that spells dead, right? I already love it,"

"Why must you turn everything morbid, B?" he shakes his head. "I can't believe you just said that,"

"David," I groan when he turns away. "I love the names. It's diabolical. I meant it in a good way,"

"Thank you for the free trip to Italy, B.B. Don't call me next time. You've got it,"

"David," I laugh. It doesn't take my mom long to come out once he goes inside.

"Why do you like taunting him?" she asks angrily. "He loves you,"

"Yeah, not exactly a good thing, Mom," I turn around to walk down the driveway.

"B.B. stop," she calls after me. I stop where I am but I don't turn around to look at her. "I've been here a few days. Delilah has come to see me twice already and she doesn't even live in the same state,"

"Right, it's not like I'm the one who's never home," I shrug.

"You know I can't go to the house," she sighs.

"What do you want, Mom?" I turn around to face her. "Why do you want me to come see you? To catch up?"

"Well, yeah," she nods. "I miss you,"

"I have a lot of stuff to do," I shrug. "I'm part of the world of the living last time I checked and I rather not interact with the ghosts of my past too much. I haven't even called Dad,"

"Do you know how lucky you are to be able to talk to us?" she huffs.

"Have you ever stopped to think that I don't want to be lucky? That I have to go home later and tell my mates that I had a great day with my dead parents while they don't even get a whisper from theirs?"

"B.B.-"

"I have a lot of s**t going on without that little bit. I don't need to add more to that," I picture the front of Victor's building and let the void inside me take me there.

"Que verga," Dominic jumps out of his seat when I appear in front of him.

"Dom," I rush to help him up. "Your leg," I try to stop him from moving when I see it bend at an awkward angle. "Holy s**t. I am so sorry,"

"Esta bien," he waves me off and reaches for his seat. I help him into it to see that it's a prosthetic leg. Victor had told me he had gotten hurt when I first asked about him but he never mentioned this. I help him pull it up so he can fix it. "Gracias,"

"You're welcome. Is he home?" I ask.

"Si, la piedra esta aqui, mama. Quidado," he warns me about Vic's stone.

"Thank you, Dom. I'm sorry I scared you," I pat his head.

He glares at me as I make my way inside. I press the button to the elevator and wait for it to come down. I can't just pop in and scare the s**t out of everyone but that's an easy way to get shot at. This way they know someone is coming and they can just point their guns at me. I'm okay with that. When the doors slide open, I step back when his stone walks out. They all look up at me as startled as I feel.

"Blackstone," one of them says. That's it. That's all that is said as they all walk out together. I nod and step into the elevator and press for the top floor.

"That was weird," I say to myself as the doors shut.

The loft door is wide open when I walk in. Vic is standing in front of a huge canvas with a set of headphones on and a paintbrush in his hand. He doesn't notice me walk in as I approach carefully, he launches himself at the canvas brush first and starts moving it around. I stay absolutely still so that I can watch him.

This is the first time I see it. He is making a f*****g mess. Little splashes of paint splatter everywhere as he paints to the beat of whatever he's listening to. He's using black paint. At first glance, he looks like he's just being weird but each stroke is precise. It's outlining whatever it is he's seeing in his head. This is the madness of Victor Escobar the Fifth.

I need to name this teleportation power. Something cute. Something that says B.B. Kind of like my Rubble Bubbles. I don't want to call it teleportation. It's obvious that's what it is. For now, I'm going with pop since I love the bubble theme I have going on.

I pop into his kitchen and go straight for the freezer where he keeps his ice cream. Victor is big on trying different snacks from around the world and his biggest vice is ice cream. I scan the weird labels and decide that the one with the chocolate monkey holding a banana is the safest one. I take a spoon and remove the lid.

The sweet scent of bananas surrounds me and there are little chocolate chunks in the yellow ice cream. I scoop some into my mouth and decide this is what I want to snack on while I watch Vic lose his mind. I pop over to the piano and sit back to enjoy the show. After a few minutes, he puts the brush down and removes his shirt wiping his face with it before tossing it aside. He lets out a low groan and takes a step back to inspect his progress.

"This is f*****g stupid," he sighs and swipes the brush aggressively on the canvas. He turns around as if contemplating throwing the huge canvas and finally spots me while I'm holding a scoop full of ice cream halfway to my mouth. "What?" he looks around lost and then removes his headphone. "Did I-"

"Did you what?" I ask when he looks me over as the blood from his face drains.

"Did I somehow summon you?" he whispers. I laugh deciding to f**k with him.

"Well, I was just talking to my mother and then I was suddenly here. Is that how hard you were thinking of me?" I ask setting the ice cream down. He looks me over and then down at his ice cream pint.

"Ass hole," he rolls his eyes and goes for the ice cream. "Twice because this is brand new and you're f*****g eating it out of the carton,"

"Sorry, but if it helps. Ten out of ten," I laugh. He takes the scoop I didn't eat and takes a bite.

"Mmm, Ben and Jerry do it better,"

"B and J has this flavor?"

"Yeah, it's called Chunky Monkey. It also has walnuts in it,"

"Mmm, that sounds good," I say going over to his canvas. "What are we working on?"

"I don't know," he says sitting at the bench where he had some of his paints. "The image isn't clear yet but I can't stop thinking about the brush,"

"Has that ever happened before?" I ask. He shakes his head. "I believe you have your first abstract painting in the making here, my pretty little bird,"

"What are you doing here?" he asks setting the ice cream down so he can stand up.

Victor, despite trying his best to seem approachable is a force. A six feet, five-and-a-half-inch force. As of late, much like the other crows, Vic's been growing out his hair. The soft sleek waves of chocolate brown hair are always flat at the top and flipped at the bottom because he's always wearing a hat. It also parts perfectly down the middle. Lucien wouldn't be Lucien if he hadn't given Vic specific instructions on shaggy hair maintenance. His dark almost shark-like eyes are trained on me and I wouldn't have it any other way.

"I miss you," I lean into him taking a strand of his hair and twirling between my fingers. He doesn't hesitate to reach down and pull me up by my thighs so I can wrap my legs around him and he can sit on the couch. "I haven't seen you in a couple of days,"

"I saw you yesterday," he smirks.

"For a like a minute," I roll my eyes. "And then you and Carson were running out the door,"

"You're right," he nods. "I'm sorry,"

"How is school going?" I glance over at his dining room table to see his books and studious supplies abandoned there.

"Really good actually," he runs his big hands over my thighs and my butt. "And you?"

"Same. Carson is driving me a little crazy now that he's completely taken over the faculty,"

"I know," he pulls my blouse up over my head and tosses it aside.

He smiles liking my lace bra. I reach for his loft door and will it shut in case anyone decides to come up. I'm sure Dom calls but still. It gives me a chance to pop into Victor's room for some modesty.

"Is he doing it on purpose?"

"Well, you've been a little distracted," he says unclipping my bra with one hand. He gently pulls it down my shoulders and tosses it on top of my blouse. His paint-stained hand massages my left breast and then he pauses thinking exactly what I am.

"Yes, you definitely should get the paint," I nod.

"Get out of my head, B.B." He lifts me up to my feet. "Take the rest of that off," he demands. I slip out of my shoes and wiggle out of my jeans. "Actually leave that on," he points at my thong. He holds up his hand with his brush in it and nods. He turns to the canvas behind him and picks it up so he can set it down on the floor. "Give me a second, amor,"

Vic picks up the black paint he had before and empties it on the canvas. Using his hands he smears it from left to right. When the entire thing is covered in the paint he gets up and gets a white bottle. He squirts some onto the canvas and then takes a clean brush to blend it into the black.

"Your phone is ringing," I say.

"Get it," he mumbles and continues to work. I smile and go over to his phone to see it's Dom.

"Hey," I answer.

"Diablo is here," he says.

"Alone?" I ask.

"Si,"

"Send him up," I shrug. He hangs up before I do.

"B," Vic waves me over to him.

I set his phone down and go over to him. He stands up wiping his hands on his jeans. He gathers my hair in one hand and guides me to take a seat on the floor. Slowly he lays me back so my head and torso are laying on the wet canvas. He then shakes my hair over the rest of it and he seems to let out a sigh of relief. As if the image in his head is clearing up.

"What are you guys doing?" Carson opens the door.

I open my mouth to say something but Vic cuts me off by pressing his mouth to mine. The kiss is anything but sweet. It's dominating, desperate, and short. I have to remind myself to breathe when he pulls away and starts kissing his way down my body.

"Stay very still," Vic growls at me angrily. "Not a word, Diablo,"

I don't move but I follow Carson's movements. He pulls out a tripod and one of Lucien's fancy cameras and starts to set it up by the piano. His academy blazer comes off and he rolls his sleeves up.

"Wait," he tells Vic when Vic comes over to me with several bottles of paint in his arms. Vic growls at him but stops anyway. Carson moves the camera around until he's happy with the shot and then starts to set up a second one.

"Up there," Vic point to the ceiling where there's a projector.

"Perfect," Carson agrees and sets up a third camera. Using his phone he makes sure he has what he needs and nods. "Okay, go,"

My body jerks a little when the cold paint lands on my skin.

"Shh," Vic leans forward and I can see his face. His pupils are huge. He really looks like a shark now. The madness in his eyes is all that's left. He's fully given into the crow. "Don't move," he growls. "Okay?"

"Okay," I whisper. He tilts my head a little and closes my eyes. He moves my arm up so it's sitting on top of my hair.

"What am I missing?" he asks, looking over at Carson.

"I've always loved her in," he lifts a bottle up into his hands and then tosses it at Victor. "Gold,"

"Perfect," Vic nods holding it up like he's had a revelation. "So, f*****g perfect,"