Hallows: Duets

Orders Are Orders

Bring Me The Horizon- Can You Feel My Heart

David:

"What the f**k was he doing here, David?" Avery demands as I toss Suzy's body out of the garbage bin.

Teegan left her here so the others know that he's here. They wrapped her in a black trash bag. She takes her feet as we drag her back to her truck. She shot him. Suzan finally took the right shot and if it hadn't been for Ashley, she would have taken him out. She spotted the gun first. f**k. That's been playing in the back of my head for days now. It wasn't a f*****g coincidence. I know Avery wouldn't be this f*****g stupid to send her up like this. What the f**k am I going to tell Eliza when I see her? My girlfriend shot your little sister because she tried to kill our boyfriend in my apartment?

"Ashley wanted to see me," I answer when we get into the truck. She heads over to the New City headquarters Art and Eliza are establishing. "I didn't know she was bringing him,"

"We can't go back to that building," she sighs.

"I know. We're setting up in the dorms," I agree.

The rest of the ride is quiet. This is how we usually get along. When I told the high priest I didn't want to get married this summer he simply prolonged it and assigned Avery as my partner as a trial run. To see if I can work well with others since Eliza is his f*****g daughter. However, the order was given and I have no f*****g choice but to follow.

"Do you like her?" Avery asks as I pick up Suzy's body and put her over my shoulder. "Ashley,"

"No," I lie. She stops me before I get to the elevator.

"I get it," she tucks her hands in her jacket pockets. "I've been there but you know orders are orders,"

"I am aware,"

"Even if you fight it," she pulls the sleeve of her jacket up to show me her obedience runes. "You do what they ask,"

"What did they make you do, Ave?"

"My father's death wasn't an accident," she shrugs and presses the button on the elevator.

Her words hang over us silently. I remember the first order I tried to ignore desperately. I remember the way it felt to stab Dante's mother over and over. How the runes on my body took over when I begged her to run. The sounds she made. How she begged me to protect Danny from his father. There are times when I look at him and I see the pain in her eyes reflected in his. I hadn't in a very long time. Not since the Black Mamba manifested but with the Reaper and Ashley. The guilt weighs on me heavier than it ever has before. If it wasn't for the runes, he'd feel it.

"What the f**k is this?" my brother asks when I set the bundle down in a chair.

"Suzan Dallas," I answer him.

As soon as she's out of my arms, I turn around swinging. My fist connects with his face. He stumbles back but snaps back instantly. His hand lashes out. I step back dodging his fist and go low. My arms wrap around his waist and I lift him while he takes shots at my back. I slam him on a desk and pull back to keep hitting him. It takes the guards a while to pull us off of one another.

"Stop," Eliza shouts rushing down the stairs to get between us.

"If you ever f*****g interfere with my s**t like that again, I'll f*****g kill you," I shout. "Look at her, you motherfucker! She's f*****g dead!"

"David," Eliza puts her hands on my chest. "What is going on?"

"He sent Suzy when he saw Dante walk into my apartment building with Ashley," I remove her hand from my chest. "Deny it, b***h. I f*****g dare you,"

"I don't see what the big deal is," he groans curling over the desk to spit a mouthful of blood on the floor. "Another dead f*****g Hallow,"

"He's not just some f*****g Hallow," I shout. "And that's not just some f*****g girl,"

"Oh, don't tell me you believe the gates of hell bullshit. It's a f*****g lie," he ignores the fact that his girlfriend's baby sister is sitting there wrapped in a f*****g trash bag.

"No, it really f*****g isn't," I pull out of the guard's arms. "You just f*****g created a big f*****g divide between me and them. Do you know how f*****g hard it is to get them out of that f*****g school? There are demons all over the place now thanks to you. You being here is going to ruin the years of undercover work I've done, you piece of s**t,"

"David, calm down," Eliza tries to reason with me. "It's not going to happen again. Right, Art?"

"Whatever," he huffs. "Dad's going to hear about this,"

"Yeah, go tell Dad, you p***y. That's all you're ever going to be good for you whiny b***h. You want to know why you don't have your own sector. That's why,"

"f**k you, David," he comes at me. With a wave of her hand, Eliza has the guards on him again. They hold him as he tries to struggle against them. Her hand whips out and cracks against his face. He immediately stops.

"You are not to interfere with David's work again, do you understand me, Major?" she gets in his face. His nostrils flare as he tries to calm down.

"You're going to take his side?" he asks her.

"There are no sides," she cups his face when she just slapped him and leans in to press her lips to his. "It's us against them, Suge. Your brother is out there risking his life for us. They trust him. Do you know how long we've waited for this opportunity? I get it. You're still upset about our orders but f*****g up everything David has accomplished in Hellbourne is not going to change anything,"

"Ellie-" he starts again but she dismisses him. The guards take him away. "Ellie!"

"I'm really sorry about that, David," she places her hands on her hips and lets out a long heavy sigh. "It's not going to happen again. I promise. She wasn't hurt was she?"

"No," I shake my head and shrug off my backpack. I set it down on the table where Art had just been sitting. I pull out the bloodied towels and Dante's bloody hoodie.

"Helsing you f*****g wizard," she laughs and comes over to me. "Is this what I think it is?"

"We have samples of his blood," I nod.

I groan feeling the completion of the order on my chest. I move away from her falling to my knees as a new rune starts to appear on my hip bone. Images of Dante bleeding out on the floor rush through my head. It feels like my head is splitting in half. Ashley's scream, the fear in her voice, all of it just races through my mind like little reels of ice-cold pain.

"Give him some room," Avery says kneeling in front of me. She places her hand on the top of my head. Her touch distracts me from the pain. "Hey, you're okay," she whispers. "Shh," she leans into me. Her warm hands help and I'm able to breathe again. "New runes f*****g suck," she chuckles."Let me see,"

"f**k," I sit back and reach for the hem of my hoodie and pull it up. There on my hip bone is the new rune. She nods.

"That's the rune of deception," she leans away. "You've mastered it," she pulls my shirt up. "Christ, you've got a s**t ton of active runes already. Your marks are so close to completion,"

"The lower on your abdomen they get the more they hurt," I say and stand up. I remove my hoodie as my body breaks out in a sweat. "How far along are yours?"

"They just crossed my back," she shrugs. "A little passed my shoulder blades,"

"Holy s**t," Eliza says from behind us. I turn back to see her looking up at the monitors against the back wall.

I didn't want to believe it. When he started talking about the Reaper, I thought he was just feeling more because of his connection to Ashley, but he's right. Chills break out all over my body. His blood isn't lying. His vessel is able to contain both familiars.

"Run them again," Avery demands. "There is no f*****g way that's real. He can't be,"

"I can run them all I want, Ave but it's not going to change anything," Eliza shakes her head. She pushes her short hair out of her face and turns to face me. "How long has he been active?"

"I started noticing the changes at the beginning of his Junior year but I didn't think much of it. It was also when Ashley showed up," I reread the results over and over wishing they would change.

"That's way too soon for a Reaper," she shakes her head. "There haven't been Reapers this young in a long time," she turns her attention back to the screen. "f**k. Have you been tracking his feeding patterns?"

"He just started feeding on Ash but they're all a lot stronger. It's the rock shows and the fans. The large crowds feed them all. He's starting to tap into his enslavement abilities. He's already mastered the snake's manipulation techniques. He's developing at an alarming rate,"

"He is," she agrees. "Good work, Helsing. Why don't you two head out? I'll take care of this," she looks over at Suzy's bundled body. She lets out a heavy sigh. "Do you know if Teegan bargained with her?"

"No, Dante was down. Ashley went after her and when she returned he had taken her. She didn't say if he took her dead or alive only that he had her," I lie.

"Thank you for bringing her back, Suge. My poppa will love you a whole lot more for it," she places her hand on the bag. "A new order has come through,"

"What now?" I groan.

"We need a sample of the girl's blood,"

"Lily?"

"We have Lily's blood. We want Ashley's,"

"For what?" Avery asks when I don't answer her.

"New program. The girl is showing remarkable combat and leadership skills. The way she moves is close to the ways of the witch doctors in Zacatecas. She'd give us strong heirs. Heirs strong enough to handle the hunter's mark. If her DNA is a match. We might be able to get out of our agreement, David. You can have your girl. She'll qualify to be put in the reformation camp in Houston,"