Hallows: Pretty Snakes & Devils

The Human Incubator

Chiodos- The Words "Best Friend" Become Redefined

B.B.

Chance broke every glass surface on the first floor of the house. A small price to pay for the battle won today. I had been so happy to see him standing over me when I woke up. I was also relatively scared that I might have triggered my father's need to reap my stupid sad soul. Then he had to go and open his mouth. He deserved Carson tossing him the way he did for nearly scaring the s**t out of Dec.

I finally calm down enough to turn around and face my family. They're all staring at me like they want to say something but have no clue what words to use.

"Are you out of your bloody mind?" James is the first to recover. "Belladonna Blackstone, that thing could have killed you,"

"Oh, you're upset-upset," he's never called me by my full name.

"What were you thinking, young lady?" he demands.

"He's not going to hurt me,"

"He could have killed you, Miss. That boy is a million times more spoiled than you. I assure you that he would end you on a f*****g whim if it pleased him. You cannot-" I put my hand up stopping him.

"I'm sorry I worried you, James. It was never my intention. I promise to behave myself better," and I mean it. He's genuinely upset about this and his aura is bleeding bright red. He lets out a defeated sigh and bows his head.

"How are you feeling?" he asks.

"A little lightheaded," I answer and sit down. "What happened with the kids? Are they okay?"

"The fringe took over," Victor answers. "I have to go,"

"Wait," I try to stand up but everything spins and I almost fall. Dec holds me up.

"Excuse me," Vic says and walks out the door.

"Victor," I take a deep breath and pop outside the house he's getting in his car. That did not make my situation better. I'm a lot dizzier now."Vic,"

"B.B. I can't do this with you right now," he gets in and slams the door shut as he starts the engine. I pop into his car blinking my cloudy vision away. He growls at me.

"Vic-"

"Please, get out of the car,"

"No," I shake my head and put my seatbelt on. "Not until you talk to me,"

"I can't talk to you right now," he shouts gripping his steering wheel so hard his knuckles turn white. "How could you do that?"

"I admit that at first, it was because it was what Damian wanted but I'm not upset about-"

"Not the f*****g killing," he growls. He gets out of the car and comes around. He rips the seatbelt off me and pulls me out. My back hits the side of his car when she slams me against it hard. My ears ring a little.

"Vic, you're hurting me," I grip his wrists.

"How could you do that? How could you f*****g love that thing like that?" he shouts. My entire body stiffens. There are tears sliding down his face. "You don't love us like that. You don't f*****g care about us the way you do that f*****g demon. I've never seen you look at any of us like that. Not even Lucien," I scream when his fist breaks the passenger seat window. "You mean everything to me. Every f*****g thing, B.B.," he screams angrily. "f**k you,"

I jump again when he slams his hands on either side of me and stalks off. Water drips down my face as the rain pours down around me. I struggle to push off the car. By the time I get back inside, I am soaking wet and scared because I've never seen him snap like that. Giving him a minute to calm himself is probably my best bet. James has a towel for me and my bunny slippers. I take my boots off and let him take them. He places his hand on my head comfortingly before he walks away.

"Does anyone else have anything to add to that?" I ask.

"I already knew," Carson drops onto the couch. "Your change didn't come from our influence on you. You're just trying to impress him,"

"Now isn't the time for that, guys," my dad tries to defuse the situation.

"That thing was f*****g beautiful," Dec laughs. "Holy s**t and he was f*****g scary ass hell. I've seen him in my dreams but I never would have guessed he was that big. How tall do you think he is? Six, eight? Six, nine?"

"Six, ten," my dad answers. "Nothing but muscle under that suit,"

"Dad," I growl at him. My mom laughs.

"You are in serious f*****g trouble," he points at me. "I told you not to f*****g bargain with that thing,"

"You tell me a lot of things," I shrug.

"And we both f*****g know you can recite each one word for word," he growls grabbing my arm. I feel his essence caress my skin calming me and easing some of the fatigue I feel. I didn't know he could do that for me. "What did you f*****g promise him?"

"That I would tell him if we had a deal a year from now," I let him take me to the armchair and sit me in it. I rub my arm when he lets me go. He's extra-extra cold right now and it was stinging my skin now that I feel better.

"B.B. you can't-"

"Shut up, David," I growl at him. "I assure you that this is for my benefit. If I kill you now, Chance is going to start killing Lucifer's men. The demons will f*****g start making deals with stupid humans and guess who they're going to come after? Us,"

"Who the f**k have you been talking to?" Dad demands. He growls when I don't answer him. "B.B. who the f**k have you been talking to?"

"Why is my power overwhelming me the way it is?" I ask him. "I've never panicked like that. Esepcially not as high as I was,"

"How is Eve that big? What happened in Rionegro?" he drops the other topic quickly. There is no way in hell I am throwing Kelly and Tony under the bus. Not now. Not ever.

"Wendigos,"

"What? How many?"

"I don't know. A lot. Maybe two or three hundred of them. The cavern they were in went really deep underground,"

"Just because you can feed on everything doesn't mean you should. Just one of those things is enough to keep you strong enough for months," he shakes his head. "f*****g-" he growls and drops onto the couch. "Why were you outside the compound?"

"I got kicked out for killing three of the other Reapers in self-defense,"

"How long were you there before that happened?" he glares at me.

"Two weeks,"

"Your f*****g little asshole," he sighs heavily. "Why didn't you come home and go back in the mornings if you can flash?"

"Pop," I correct him. "And because I was embarrassed. I also really liked being there. There's not a lot of people and my biggest concern was Bryan?"

"Who the f**k is Bryan?" he asks. I point behind him to the big snake habitat where we keep my snake. Carson named him and immediately fell in love with him. We keep him in the huge glass habitat because he almost ate Christmas Coal. It's floor to ceiling and has the best of everything and Eve has access to him whenever she wants.

"He tried to eat Stacy. It was the funniest thing ever,"

"What the f**k?" Mom covers her mouth.

"How did we not notice you turned my bar into a f*****g snake habitat?" Dad asks going over to it. "Where is my stuff?"

"Library," Carson clears his throat. "We're not getting rid of Bryan. Eve is in love with him,"

"f*****g snakes," Dad rubs his face.

"What happened after we left?" I ask my mom.

"Ahsan showed up and he was livid. I've never seen anything like that," she points at the devils.

"Right," I laugh. "It's the f*****g coolest thing ever,"

"We have very different definitions of cool," Mom scoffs.

"Obviously. You're into Dad and don't get me started on Dumb Helsing," the guys both laugh. My parents all glare at me.

"B.B. what the f**k is going on with Chance?" David asks. "What are you doing?"

"None of your business," my other two parents and I say at the same time.

"So, you're just not going to f*****g tell me?"

"I'm cashing in my blank check," Carson stands up and crouches down in front of me. "You are going to tell Espinosa the truth. I want him to carry that s**t on his conscience for the remainder of his time on earth,"

"No,"

"Then I am going to join Victor in his pity party and make the next few weeks of your life a living hell. s**t, I might even recruit the blonde one,"

"You wouldn't,"

"For this little display with Chance. I would,"

"I don't understand why you're all mad. We all belong to him. Collectively,"

"Yeah, we do. That makes him the enemy. No one f*****g owns Carson Kennedy without him putting up a fight,"

"We clearly don't f**k you up enough if you talk about yourself in the third person," Dec shakes his head. "You hear this motherfucker? You trippin'. The enemy. That f*****g thing would tear us apart with a snap of his fingers. His aura looks like f*****g melted gold flowing endlessly. Tell Lucien. He'll agree with me,"

"I think so too," I agree. "Lucien likes Chance,"

"That still leaves me and Victor. The guy that paints death and was raised in a fancy f*****g storage room," he crosses his arms over his chest. Why the f**k isn't he wearing his blazer? That shirt looks amazing on him. If I do this, I know he's going to drop it as promised, but it's going to sit there in the back of his head until it pops up with some other stupid thing I do and it's going to blow up in my face. I also want him to use that blank check for something a little more productive than making Espinosa miserable.

"If you're that upset about this and want to join Vic, be my guest,"

"You can't possibly care about this f*****g human that much?" he growls pointing at David.

"Would it make you happy if I tell you what we're going to use his death for?" I suggest.

"Excuse me?" David asks. My dad laughs.

"That depends. Is there group killing involved?" he asks and glances back at him.

"Say no," David shakes his head. "B.B. please tell me you're not going to have a group session while I'm f*****g dying,"

"B.B.," Mom covers her mouth shaking her head.

"No, but look at him. It's probably going to happen on his grave," I shrug. Even James laughs at that. "I need the heart of a cursed soul for a really powerful spell we're going to use to keep a supernatural census around the entire entrance of hell. It would be a shame to pass up this opportunity and it requires a bound Reaper. So, it'll be a group killing,"

"They're going to have a f*****g orgy covered in my sacrifice blood offering to Necromancy," David mutters. I'm kind of impressed that he knows what I'm talking about.

"Since there is only one me, I believe the term is gangbang and we don't do that. The power we create could be catastrophic. Saving that for apocalyptic-size missions," Dec and Carson both laugh. My fathers don't find it funny.

"Look at his expression," I scream and jump away from Grandpa Blackstone.

"Grandpa. What the f**k?" I glare at him. He looks over at me and grins.

"You can see me now?" he asks.

"Why can I f*****g see you? Are you kidding me?" I groan.

"This is new,"

"No," I groan when Grandma appears next to my mom. "How do I turn this off?"

"What is happening?" Dad asks.

"Interesting. I believe you're feeding off your father's essence. And because he's not mortal. You can see through the veil. You aren't strong enough to do this on your own yet,"

"Dad, get the f**k out of here. You're the reason why I can see the ghosts. I can't handle ghosts right now. I have problems,"

"You're always going to have problems. You have six boyfriends, Pinky. I have one and this motherfucker is still sucking the life out of me from beyond the grave," he growls. I laugh at the expression on David's face. Even my mom cracks a smile.

"Dad,"

"Daughter," he sighs placing his hand on my head. "I almost killed you today. You need to learn how to channel all that power inside Eve or it's going to continue to tear you apart like it did today. How many of these f*****g things are you mad at?" he points back at Carson and Dec. "Don't lie to me,"

"Two and then Vic's mad at me because he thinks I'm in love with a demon I know nothing about,"

"You're not?" Mom smirks.

"No, I'm not. Not yet anyway,"

"Could have fooled me," Carson scoffs.

"I forget Carson is always on the fight list. So, four out of six," I glare at him. He grins pleased with himself.

"The extra stress is going to trigger bigger reactions. Fix it,"

"Fix it? I'm not doing anything wrong," I defend myself.

"That's cute, Danny. She has your same toxic trait. She thinks she's a good girl," David laughs. Mom laughs agreeing with him. Even my grandparents are laughing.

"I'm Black Death. I've never ever f*****g considered myself a good anything," he scoffs. "I wasn't a good reaper. I wasn't a good person. I wasn't a good husband. I wasn't even a good father. In fact, the only thing I was good at was f*****g,"

"You feel like a piece of s**t now don't you, Dumb Helsing?" Carson laughs.

"Always the victim," Grandpa shakes his head.

"Hey, f**k you, man. If we're talking about terrible fathers. You're at the top of the list, Dr. Blackstone. He wasn't perfect but at the very least he had the decency to not experiment on his baby. Babies because there were two of us. One of those babies is helping your half-assed work, old man. If I were you I'd keep my mouth shut,"

"I'm glad Dante was born a male," he scoffs.

"Yeah, you should be. If he had been a woman you'd have suffered a terrible f*****g death at his hands. Not to mention the f*****g hunter would have completely turned her on you. We'd probably have hell on earth if he has been a woman,"

"She would have been beautiful," Grandma grins and pinches my cheek. "Just like you,"

"I doubt it," I look up at my dad.

"We'd have a Delilah situation on our hands," Grandpa agrees. "A lot worse. Dante is an only child,"

"Stop talking to the f*****g ghosts, B.B.," Dad sighs. "And stop f*****g with my dad's s**t,"

"See these," I hold my hands up. "I mixed black stone with nail sculpting powder. I can kill supernatural beings with my f*****g claws. That was his idea. And this," I go for my satchel on the coat rack by the door. I pull out my portable emergency pack and open it to show him the mini syringes. "Small doses to heal wounds instantly and I balanced the dose of nightshade and delilah so it doesn't feel like hellfire is igniting inside of us,"

"Suck on that, son," Grandpa smiles up at my dad's glare.

"Don't tell him to suck on stuff, Grandpa. That's creepy even for a ghost," I shake my head. The guys both laugh.

"Ask your father what he knows about the Legions of Lilith," Grandma says.

"Right now?" I turn to face her. She nods. "Dad, what do you know about the Legions of Lilith?"

"How do you know about that?" Mom asks.

"Ah, Ashley. I did always have a soft spot for her," Grandma smiles.

"Grandma loves you," I smile at her. Her cheeks flush and she smiles. "She's the one asking,"

"I don't really know much about them. Lily is the one looking into it. Ever since Lucien was in hell. She's been trying to figure out what Chance wants with him. But I think she said the Legions are made of Hallows. Hallows were created to keep the balance. Harbingers of death are a dime a dozen but not all of them care for it. It's why we have assholes like Jack the Ripper, Hitler, and your father,"

"Ouch. I don't deserve to be categorized with Hitler," Dad scoffs.

"I beg to differ," Mom laughs.

"Same," David agrees. "You just aren't a racist piece of s**t. Your cruelty is rated E for Everyone,"

"Whatever," Dad snatches my pink pouch and starts inspecting the syringes.

"So, Lilith created Hallows. That's true?" I ask.

"Yeah, she created them for Lucifer when he was banished from his father's kingdom. Hell was essentially empty. She created them to help Lucifer and Hades filter out the bad souls so they got the proper punishment for their depravities on earth. It was a gift to prove her loyalty and devotion to him. Lilith was Lucifer's Wrath,"

"Ask her to bring you the grimoire," Grandma suggests.

"I don't know, Penny. That seems like a lot of unnecessary problems," but the idea is a really good one.

"What does she want?" David asks.

"None of your business," I glare at him and then turn my attention back to her. "What would I even do with it?"

"Hallows were bound to familiars of hell. Lilith had the affinity to control them. If you can figure out how to do that. You'd have control of all the stones. You'd be able to access them without having to feed on all of them the way you have been. You're far too young for all the power you have. You're still developing. It was why your father lost his mind and became Black Death. He wasn't properly prepared. You have them and you have us. Let us help you with this,"

"I don't know, Penny. It would be naive of me not to question your logic,"

"Based on what?" she smirks.

"Based on the fact that my dad and I both get our abilities to manipulate everyone from you. Grandpa doesn't have to stoop to such tactics. He's terrifying and will one hundred percent murder someone to get what he wants."

"What does she want?" Dad grins.

"She wants Mom to bring me Lilith's grimoire so that I can learn to use the stones without having to link them all to me. She doesn't think I can control more than the twenty-three stones we're already channeling,"

"I'm sorry," David laughs. "Did you say you're channeling twenty-three stones?"

"Twenty-Seven, Baby. You're forgetting your little adventure with Lucien and the green fairy," Carson reminds me. I laugh at my parent's expressions.

"What green fairy?" Dad growls.

"Absinthe," I shrug. "Someone gave Lucien a bottle when they were on tour and he saved it for us. He said look at this, we took a drink, and that's all I remember,"

"That's how massacres start," David shakes his head.

"Wrong. We partied on three continents in one night and made a lot of friends," I scoff.

"You're one to talk about starting massacres, Dumb Helsing. Why are you here? Go home to your human incubator already," Carson growls at him. Dec laughs.

"I've never wanted to punch anyone else in the face the way I want to punch this kid," Mom shakes her head. "I didn't think there could be a bigger asshole than Carter,"

"This one is also Kelly's son," Dad smiles. "I have to admit that he's kind of my favorite,"

"Aww, thanks man," Carson lifts his fist and my dad bumps him.

"Lucien is her favorite," he points at Mom.

"I don't have favorites. I'd kill them all equally," she rolls her eyes. "If I did have a favorite it would be Dylan or Natalie,"

"Where the f**k is Natalie?" Dec asks.

"Bikers. Del has her expanding the Dock's weapons distribution. Marcos is prepping to head out with her next week. He finally selected a new VP. The M.C. loves him," I answer. "She's moving toward Seattle,"

"You've expanded all the way to Seattle already?" David asks.

"This guy," Dec scoffs. "The entire coast is run by the Fallen already. Thanks to Jimenez we're dominating Texas. We'd be in the politics of it all if we weren't looking for you stupid ass aunt. b***h is preying on mortal faith. I'd be impressed if she were feeding on it. I love the taste of the fear of the unknown from a reformed gangster. It's honest and apologetic,"

"Amen," Carson agrees.

"I personally prefer a good God Complex. There is nothing better than the feeling of some asshole who thinks he's immortal looking death right in the eyes," Dad shrugs.

"The Dark Lord Cometh," I laugh. He grins pulling me in for a hug.

"I have to get going," David sighs.

"I'll bring it," Mom looks at me. "Does Penelope know where it is?"

"I do not. I do know it's pink,"

"It's pink?" I look over at her. She nods. "She said she doesn't know where it is but that it's pink,"

"Of course, it is," Mom rolls her eyes. "Leave it to Mommy issues to fall for this Pink Troll," she ruffles my hair. "If you cut your hair again, I will do the thing I swore I'd never do,"

"Which is?" I ask.

"I'll get the f*****g belt, B.B. and it's not going to be cute like when Ahsan does it," she growls. I step away from her. "Let's go, Baby Boy. The human incubator is alone,"