“Shadow demons. They consume souls.” He helped me up and we turned to Gluttony as she tilted her head to one side.
The crazy smile on her face remained as she took a couple of steps towards us. “The daughter of Death and the son of Pestilence will die together.” She held her hand out and a barbed whip appeared.
My stomach dropped. I analyzed the situation and knew we were in trouble. The whip would have a longer reach on it than my scythe or Pete’s swords. I took a deep breath and watched her move. Her arm tensed and she brought the whip up and let it down with a loud snap. Pete and I jumped out of the way, she turned to pay attention to him and I attacked her side.
My scythe met her hip but she turned and the whip came with her. The barbs dug into my leg and pulled out with the sound of ripping flesh. I cried out as the pain seared my calf. I recovered, but putting pressure on the leg sent agonizing waves through my body. More shadow demons appeared from the floor, their mouths gaping and coming towards me. I swiped the scythe around me to clear them away while another snap echoed in the room and Pete’s scream followed.
I cleared the shadow demons around me and rushed forward, my heart pounding against my chest, my breath burning in my lungs, but I had to get to her. Gluttony turned around with one of Pete’s swords sticking out of her stomach. It didn’t faze her and she pointed a slim finger at me and crooked it as if telling me to come to her. The shadow demons snarled and growled as they moved behind her and around the edge of the barrier, but they were no threat to me. I needed to focus on her.
I brought my scythe down, trying to catch her at the knees to bring her down. She cracked her whip and it wrapped around my handle, pulling me forward. I tried to find my balance, but the pain in my leg kept throwing me off. She caught me by the neck and wrapped her hand around my throat.
“Where is your father?” She squeezed, cutting off my air.
I tried to gasp out an answer, but I couldn’t speak around the pressure. My limbs started to tingle as darkness started to leak into my vision. Pete came up from behind her and put his sword against the base of her neck.
“Let her go.” Gluttony dropped me and I fell, coughing. Pete shoved his blade in, but she disappeared and reappeared behind him.
“You think you’re so strong, both of you have forgotten who else was here. Both of you lost track of the reason you came.”
Daniel. I turned around searching for him and found him nowhere. A strangled noise came from Pete and I spun around to see Daniel’s body at his feet. Grief swept through me and made my heart skip a beat. How could we have let him out of our sight?
“My shadows devoured his soul. My job here is done.” She gave me a little wave and blew me a kiss. “I’ll be seeing you later.”
She disappeared. I ran to Pete and Daniel. Pete shoved me away. “Don’t touch him. He’s gone. We allowed this to happen. We left him defenseless.”
I clenched my fist and knew he was right. One of us should have protected Daniel, we both should have remembered he was there and defenseless. I closed my eyes and turned away. Ruthie hadn’t shown up, but maybe she thought I was safe with Pete. She probably didn’t expect us to run into a Sin.
My focus had been to kill Gluttony because I assumed that’s who the death number belonged to. Assumption would get me killed if I didn’t learn not to do it. We were lucky that her goal wasn’t to kill us, or we both would probably be dead.
Blood dripped down my leg, reminding me that I bore the mark of being careless in the fight. A heavy hand fell on my shoulder and I flinched.
“Let’s get our wounds taken care of and head back to the dorms. I’ll call Ruthie on the way there to fill her in.” Grief weighed his voice down.
“And Daniel’s body?” My voice cracked I closed my eyes.
Pete turned me around to face him and I opened my eyes. Dried tears stained his cheeks, but he met my gaze. “He’s a horseman, his body will disappear back into his plane where it will find its final rest. His soul won’t be released until the shadow demon who ate it is killed.”
There would be no rest for his soul. A lump climbed my throat and I wanted to cry. Our carelessness caused a man’s death. “I’m so sorry. I should have guarded him and let you take care of Gluttony.”
He pulled me into a hug and after a moment of surprise I laid my head against his shoulder. “It was a fatal mistake, but we’re entering a war. We both did what we thought best.”
The idea of running away with my mother started to appeal to me more. There would be no more making fatal mistakes and soul eating shadow demons.
Pete pulled back. “Let me see if I can find the first aid kit.”
I sat on the couch and waited. Daniel’s body had disappeared already and no evidence of the fight could be seen. Other than the pain in my leg the fight almost seemed like a far off dream. Pete returned with a first aid kit and patched up my leg with some gauze and medical tape. He patched his own side up even though I offered to help. We did everything in silence and headed back to the dorms.
Ruthie greeted us in the courtyard. She gave Pete a huge hug and cupped his cheek with her hand. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Pete nodded. “Thank you. We should have known better.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m going to crash for the night. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He turned to me. “You take care of your leg, make sure you keep it clean. We may not be able to get infections, but it needs to heal.”
“I will. Thank you.” I looked at the ground, still thinking about the fight and how it could have gone differently. How we could have kept Daniel alive.
Pete pulled me into another hug and squeezed me tight. “You can’t go back and change it. We can’t dwell on it or it will tear us down. We grieve, we move forward, and we make sure not to let it happen again. Understood?” He left no room to argue with him.
“Understood.” I wrapped my arms around him and returned the hug. “Sorry you couldn’t finish watching the soccer game.”
He gave a small laugh. “That’s okay, there will be other games. Sorry your history lesson got canceled.” He walked towards his dorm and Ruthie stared at me with her hands on her hips.
“You two took on a Sin without calling for help.” She snapped. I opened my mouth to say something but closed it. My mind couldn’t find the words to respond to her sudden anger.
She started walking towards our building and I limped behind her. “I don’t even know how to call for help. I thought you would know if I was in danger.”
“But Pete does and he should have. I should have known you were in danger. What were you two even doing out there? What reason did you have to go see Daniel?” We got to the door and she swiped her ID to get us in.
I pressed my lips together. “We thought he could help with the spreading of the plague.”
“Which led Gluttony to him. She must have followed you two.” Ruthie pressed the button on the elevator. “How’s your leg?”
“Hurts. I have to say I never thought I’d know what a barbed whip felt like.” The doors opened and I walked in, trying to keep pressure off the leg. “I have a feeling tomorrow it’s going to feel worse.”
She pressed the button for our floor and leaned against the wall. “You’ll need to come up with a story on how you hurt it. Someone will ask and it’s not like you can tell them you were hit with a whip.”
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. “I’ll figure something out.” I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” I whispered.
“For what?”
I opened my eyes at the doors opened. “For doing something that was obviously a stupid idea. I didn’t mean to get someone killed. I didn’t mean to get hurt and it sure as hell wasn’t my idea to face a Sin with just two of us. I thought you said we were evenly matched with them.”
We got into our room and I sat down without waiting for her to even close the door. “I said that we were matched with Envy and Pride. Three on two we would have been an even match to their powe
rs. Gluttony is more powerful because she can control the shadow demons. Lust is insane because he can get you begging for sex with a mere thought, though he sucks at fighting. Greed can cloud your judgment and have you focused only on the thing you want most, but during battle that’s not always a bad thing.”
She sat down in her chair and spun to face me. “That’s what makes the Sins so deadly, their abilities that go with their namesakes.”
“That doesn’t ease my guilt.” I laid back and cringed when my calf muscle pulled.
“Nor should it, but now you can learn from the mistake and so can Pete.” She flipped her laptop off. “Now get to bed. You have math in the morning.”
I stripped my clothes off and put on pajamas. Tomorrow would bring new challenges and I didn’t think solving for ‘x’ would be the worst of them.
5
I didn’t see Ruthie when I woke the next morning. As an angel I’m sure she had other duties to attend to and sleeping in wasn’t a luxury she had. I stood to get out of bed and pain shot through me as I put pressure on the wounded leg. I took a deep breath and limped my way to my closet to pull out clothes for the day. I opted for baggier pants so as not to restrict my calf and a red shirt. I made my way to the showers, showered, dressed, and headed out for class.
I moved slower than normal so coffee before class wasn’t an option. I reached the classroom and Jared sat in his seat with an extra cup of coffee and a huge grin on his face. He set the second cup at the empty seat next to him. He was a lifesaver. I gimped my way over and sat down.
“You are amazing.” I cupped the coffee with my hands and savored the warmth. “Just what I needed.”
He sipped his coffee and his gaze never left my face. “You look like you had a rough night. I was hoping to see you at dinner, but I must have missed you.”
“Yeah, I had an early dinner and a meeting with a tutor last night.” I focused on the lid of the coffee. “I took a spill last night and then ended up at the doctors for a bit to make sure I didn’t break anything or need stitches.” It hadn’t occurred to me that I might have needed actual medical attention, but it was the best lie I could give.
“I’m glad you’re all right. I saw the limp, must have hurt your leg pretty bad.” He leaned back in his chair. “What did the doctor say?”
I froze for a moment and my mind raced to find an answer. I took a drink of my coffee, trying to stall. “Nothing is broken and I should be fine. That I need to be more careful.” I forced a smile. “I’ve always been clumsy.”
“Must have been one hell of a fall.” There was something akin to disbelief in his voice.
Professor L walked in and the class fell silent. She had an evil grin on her face. “Pass your homework forward and prepare for a test.”
Test? My heart skipped a few beats. There wasn’t a test on the syllabus and she hadn’t mentioned anything on Saturday when she disrupted my mother and me. I pressed my lips together. I could do this, but my palms sweated at the idea of an unscheduled test. I tried to breathe past the panic in my throat and focus. I knew the material; I knew the methods that she was demanding. I could do this.
I dug my homework out of a folder and passed it to the front and Jared did the same. We waited for the tests to be passed around. I took a deep breath before looking at it. Algebraic equations covered the pages and the letters mixed with the numbers almost threw me into a panic attack. Test anxiety sucked and I tried to get my brain to obey me and focus on the problems on the paper. An hour later I had managed to finish all the problems on the test and I walked it to the front of the class and put it on her desk. I glanced over my shoulder at the students still taking their tests. Summoning my scythe wasn’t an option now. Despite the barrier that would form, I didn’t like the idea that there were innocent and defenseless people around.
Professor L smiled at me and put a hand on top of mine when I laid the test down on the desk. “How do you think you did?”
“I feel pretty confident about it.” I removed my hand and smiled. “I’ll see you Wednesday.” I walked out and tried to ignore the stiffness that was forming in my calf. I leaned against the wall and took a moment to stretch the leg. I hissed as the wounds pulled with the stretching, but it needed to be done or I was going to cramp.
“Surprise tests are the worst.” Jared said as he walked out of the classroom. “I hate tests in general, but surprise ones always shoot my anxiety through the roof.”
I chuckled. “Me too, but I think I managed.” I hope I did, because I didn’t want any more of her attention on me. I stood straight and started towards my next class. Jared went a different direction. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Professor L watching me through the window of the classroom door. I shook my head, trying to shake away any paranoid thoughts creeping in.
I walked into the cafeteria after my classes and saw Pete and Kaleb sitting in the corner. They gave me a little wave and I nodded. I went and chose my food and then joined them.
“How’s the leg?” Pete asked and stole a French fry off my plate.
“Hurts like a bitch.” I grumbled. “How’s the side?”
“Same.” He turned to Kaleb. “Kaleb was just telling me how a big flu is starting to wipe out half of the bird population. The prices of eggs, chicken, and turkey products are expected to skyrocket.”
I rolled my eyes. “This happens once a year, swine flu hits and pork goes up. It’s just a way to adjust the economy a little.”
“It’s every country, not just ours. The wheat farms are also experiencing a bug infestation that is expected to drop production to a fourth” Kaleb pointed out and turned his tablet so I could see the numbers. “They are saying that if either gets worse, the products will be rationed and the price will triple at least.”
Famine would hit and people wouldn’t be able to afford the prices of the product. “So that means that Famine officially has stopped doing his job?” I grumbled and leaned back.
They both gave a grim nod. “Looks that way.” Pete took a drink of his soda. “Did you check out your algebra teacher today?”
“Couldn’t, there was still a classroom of students there. I didn’t want to risk another innocent life and screw up.” I put my head in my hands. “I need something for the pain in my leg or I’m going to throw up.”
“Ruthie went to pick us up some extra strength pain killers. The only way you’re going to get more is if you go to the doctor’s and they will want a detailed explanation.”
I groaned. “If we’re so great and are supposed to be fighting demons on a regular basis, shouldn’t we get some type of extra quick healing ability?”
“It’ll heal quicker, but in the meantime, the pain is still very real. It’ll be gone by the end of the week.” He promised and looked to Kaleb.
Kaleb glanced up from his tablet. “They’ve updated the death numbers for the plague. They aren’t looking good. And there’s been no progress with Texas threatening war. We may very well experience a civil war within the next couple of weeks.”
I didn’t want to believe this was happening, and yet the evidence was right in front of us. “Hopefully we make progress this weekend then.”
“Hopefully.” Pete drummed on the table. “And until then, we know we have to deal with the Sins. Gluttony said her mission was completed when she killed my grandfather. Which means that the other past horsemen are possible targets.”
“How many are there left?”
Kaleb tapped something on his screen. “In the generation before our fathers’ there’s only two now, but there are a few generations further back than that. There are probably about ten left. You need to let your father know tonight so he can warn the others.”
I had forgotten about going to see him tonight. Training with my leg was going to hurt, but it wasn’t like he was going to let me use that as an excuse. I needed to know how to fight while in pain, to focus on what mattered and work through it. “I can do that.”
“Tonight, I’ll have
more information on the other locations we’ll visit. There’s a lot of research that goes into which ones have actual significance and which ones were just named after the Devil for human curiosity.”
I raised a brow. “What exactly is the significance?”
“It’s where the veil between Hell and the human world is thin.” Pete explained. “We’re not just picking places that sound like the Devil is at work, but places where the demons can visit easier, where humans can be tempted easily and death is almost a promise.” He looked at me. “Did you think we were just going to visit random spots?”
I wanted to punch him. “You guys aren’t exactly great at explaining things, so yes. I figured we’d just hit up all the ‘Devil’s whatevers’ out there and hope that we got lucky.”
Kaleb held up his hand to silence me. “We often forget that you aren’t schooled in the apocalypse and the different realms. Next time, ask.” The moment he was done speaking he went back to scrolling on the tablet.
I didn’t think I’d done anything out of line and the pain made me irritable. I finished my lunch and stood. “I’ll see you later.” I took my tray to the belt and then walked out of the cafeteria. I didn’t want to go straight to Death’s realm and work on fighting. I didn’t want to return to my dorm and face Ruthie there. What I wanted to do was something unrelated to the apocalypse. The car was still out of commission and walking to the movie theater was out of the question. I limped my way towards the library, it was the next best choice and maybe I’d find a good book to read.
By the time I got to the library my leg burned and the pain seared its way up to my hip. I should have chosen to go to the dorms in hope Ruthie had found some painkillers for me. I didn’t believe Pete when he told me that the wounds would be gone by the end of the week. I sat down at one of the tables and took a moment to breathe through the discomfort. Soreness worked through my muscles from limping, my knee creaked in protest as I shifted my weight once more trying to baby the hurt leg, and my spine popped as I stretched. I never put much thought into how much of a toll limping took on the body.
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