by Jenica Saren
Something sparked inside me and I frowned, glancing down at my chest. Obviously, nothing was there. I looked up in time to watch Beck and Rafe get thrown back, hard, their bodies slamming into the wall with a crunch that I wasn't entirely sure was the wood panelling.
"No!" I screamed, covering my mouth.
I realised my mistake too late.
They had all made the first move, taking the offensive position, to draw the monster's attention away from me, their most useless team member. Or damsel, however you wanted to look at it. It didn't matter anymore, though, because those glowing red eyes, easily the size of my head alone, were trained on me.
It didn't move, even as my Sins hit it with everything they had. All it did was stare.
A chill crept into my bones, making me tremble. At that point, I should have run, but my feet felt like they were nailed to the floor. All I could do was gaze back, trying to emulate my normal confidence, the confidence of a fighter, the confidence of a survivor, or the confidence of that version of me that turned nine shades of badass last time I was here.
Not moving, I finally garnered the will to look away but still didn't move, remaining as still as I possibly could. Glancing around the room, I looked for something - anything - that would provide a place to hide or a means of defence. Anything that I could use to my advantage and help my guys.
My guys.
There was a minuscule chance that what I was thinking would work, but if the Seven Deadly Sins could exist as real, tangible (and sexy) beings, then anything was possible. Including the craziest thing I had ever considered doing in my life.
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I tried not to think about what I was about to do as I knelt slowly to the ground and cupped my hand around a small shard of glass. Glancing down at it, I noted that it was a piece of stained glass - red stained glass.
Pressing the glass to the heel of my opposite hand, I started to pray aloud.
The monster above us all swirled, seething, in agitation and I could tell that its aggression was about to multiply by the hundreds or more. Tears in my eyes as I tried not to think about the words that spilt out as automatically and freely as the blood that was pooling in the palm of my hand, I sought out my guys. I needed to focus on them to keep myself in the present, to keep myself from slipping into those dark corners of my mind that held my worst nightmares and memories.
My eyes trained on Eliam, the one nearest to me, and he stared back, unmoving and eyes stormy, illuminated by a shine that screamed danger. He didn't look angry. On the contrary, he looked more determined than I had ever seen him. His eyes didn't leave mine, even as they filled with tears that I tried with all my might to contain.
Kellan, Rafe, Gray, Beck, and Gatlin shouted out to me, but one sad, yet deliberate signal from Eliam had them remaining in place, still and staring.
As I prayed, I intentionally replaced the names of the saints and archangels with the names of my guys. I didn't have a name for the thing, the monster above, but I referred to it as The Darkness in my prayer, and it seemed to be doing the trick, if it's increased agitation was anything to judge by.
If this worked, I would never doubt anything ever again.
I removed the glass from my hand and placed my bloodied palm on the wooden floor beneath me. Eyes closed, an image came to my mind as though it had always been there, waiting for the moment it would be recognised. Then, without possessing a single artistic bone in my body, I began to draw it.
A seven-pointed star, symbols that I didn't know, that I'd never seen before, painted with my finger between the star points.
When I finished, I opened my eyes, turning my gaze upward, and watched as the Darkness shuddered and unleashed a sound that somewhat resembled a scream of rage. Like a knife, it formed a point as it dove down straight for me.
I could have chosen to close my eyes again at that moment, could have chosen to accept the fate that was heading straight for me, but I couldn't. I was invigorated in a terrified and desperate sort of way, strengthened by the six immortal men that meant more to me than my own life.
Throwing my hand up, I tried once again to focus all of my energy into that shield-like thing that I had created before.
My arm was jarred backwards as my energy did as I willed it and the hell creature slammed into my barrier with all the force of a semi-truck. A sickening cracking sound came from my shoulder and I screamed but didn't budge an inch, even as my arm tried to collapse, shaking and wavering.
Before I could think to call them, my guys were suddenly standing before me, and they were... Glowing?
No, that wasn't right. They were shrouded in their own energies, illuminated from the inside out and shining like brilliant, terrifying stars that had fallen from the night sky to rain justice on the souls of the wicked.
They were fierce, incredible, and scary in their luminescence.
None of them moved for a long while as the Darkness writhed and screeched in agony against the light that shone from them. Then, as one, they launched themselves at the already defeated monster - its fate was as good as sealed and it knew as much.
My guys threw attack after attack at it and I felt like I was staring at an up close and personal fireworks display, colours and light exploding across the building. As I watched, it started to shrink in size and mass, its form deteriorating little by little with every hit.
I stared on in wonder, in a sort of daze as the Darkness became little more than the size of a birthday balloon. Every one of the guys stepped back from it as it hovered in the air between them all.
Everyone except Eliam, who stalked closer to the literal ball of pure evil. I could see his lips move as he whispered something to it, then he raised his hands on either side of it, his hands filling with his own energy. It steadily built greater and grander, nearly blinding me in its brilliance, before he clapped his hands together, crushing what was left of the once menacing creature.
My breath rushed out of me and I collapsed against the door at my back.
One second, everything was silent. The next, my six favourite people were rushing toward me and calling my name. It was all sort of hazy and fuzzy, though, like everything was moving in slow motion. At least they weren't glowing anymore.
Gatlin fell to his knees at my side first and scooped me up in his arms, pulling me onto his lap.
"Hey, Angel," I mumbled with a small smile. “Can we stop fighting evil shadow monsters now? Please? Especially here.”
He didn't smile back. Instead, he glowered at me. "What the fuck was that, Ria?" He demanded.
I lifted my arm that wasn't hurting and waved my hand at him. Well, I meant to wave it at him, but I ended up kind of slapping his face with it. Oops.
Gray knelt at my other side, his hands hovering over every inch of me. "Your shoulder is dislocated," he told me, his voice tight.
"Great, now I have to go my whole life with a floppy arm," I grumbled. "That's gonna be fun and fantastic for business."
Kellan scoffed. I knew it was him because he was towering over me like the biggest beach umbrella ever. "No, we're going to have to set it," he informed me gruffly.
Ha! He was a funny guy, that Kel. "Negative, Tiny," I snorted. "That's so far from happening, you couldn't see it from Pluto."
"Tiny?" He asked, perplexed.
"It's ironic, and it's funny," I replied stubbornly.
He shrugged his shoulders and shared a quick look with Gatlin. "If you say so," he said with an uncharacteristic smirk.
I was about to insist that I did, in fact, say so, when his lips were suddenly slamming against mine with a force that was something akin to what I imagine a sexy bullet train would feel like.
If I'd had any room to gasp, I would have. As it was, tiny pinpricks of light danced behind my closed eyelids and my body tingled from tip to toe.
Kissing Kellan was... It was magical, wonderful, strangely gentle while still intense, and it was...
It fucking hurt.
&
nbsp; Too late, I took notice of the hand pressed firmly against my shoulder and had no time to stop the jackass responsible before sharp, blinding pain shot through me. Against Kellan's lips, I screamed. And screamed. And screamed.
I screamed until the pain turned to a dull throb and the screaming died down into low whimpers. When that happened, Kellan pulled back away from me, separating our lips and allowing me to properly glare at him.
"Thanks a fucking lot," I growled. Oh, how I really did wish that I could shoot lasers from my eyes right then.
"You'll need a sling for a couple of weeks, maybe less if you take it easy," Gray informed me.
Eyeing him, I decided that he wasn't the perpetrator.
Looking up, however, I deduced that it was Gatlin - mostly because of the self-satisfied smirk that he wore like a second skin. Wow. Betrayal really was like a hot, dull knife. "I'm going to get you," I hissed at him.
The answering chorus of chuckles that rose up around me warmed me to my core. My guys... I knew they weren't actually mine, per se, but I didn't see anyone else coming to claim them. But, well... Maybe I could change that. They had Lillith before, so maybe I could... Maybe I could be more? My mind flashed to my conversation with Rafe before the shitstorm and my resolve hardened. If they would accept me, I would be more - the best more they'd ever had.
Clearing my throat, I sat up in Gatlin's arms a little bit. "Uh, guys?" I began, finding it hard to meet any of their eyes. "I have something I want to say. Or ask. Asking is probably the better option. But I mean, saying it is kind of part of saying it talking and that's what I'm doing. Anyway, it's really important to me and I hope you'll all hear me out."
When I finally did find the courage to glance at them, none of them were even paying any attention to me. They were all looking around the room, faces full of confusion and concern.
"Did all of you hear that?" Eliam asked, his brow furrowed severely.
The others nodded, not bothering to answer verbally. I remained silent as my ears strained to listen for whatever they were all hearing. The place seemed quiet, soundless but for our own breathing and the sound of rain pattering down on the roof above us.
Then I heard it.
A dull, almost imperceptible scratching noise. It was like a tree branch brushing against the side of a house or the scurrying of rats against hardwood floors. It was a weird sound to hear inside and it was really hard to pinpoint the source.
I steeled myself and prepared for another fight as I listened harder.
The altar.
It was torn to pieces, shattered into thousands of tiny splintered shards. But that wasn't the most interesting part. Below where the structure once sat, was a blackened square of wood with a shining, round silver handle on it.
"Guys, over there," I whispered, pointing to the spot.
As one, we all rose. Gatlin set me on my feet and I stumbled alongside them all as we approached. The scratching sound was getting clearer and I was more sure than ever that we were looking in the right place.
Feeling too drained and unsteady to possibly hold my own in another fight, I clutched Gatlin's arm like it would serve as a shield in case of emergency. Judging by the size of it, I was feeling pretty confident about that, actually.
Eliam gave a signal to Kellan who nodded his understanding before crouching down and ripping the trapdoor right off its hinges.
In the space beneath was a shining, sleek coffin. It was wrapped top to bottom in heavy, absurdly large chains and had a strange sort of energy coming off of it that reminded me of something I'd seen before. It was visible and looked like heat waves.
Without any communication, Kellan reached into the space and started ripping the chains away with apparent ease. Holy fuck, I did not want to piss him off - like, ever.
Kellan shared a look with each of his brothers and Gatlin shoved me behind him slightly. I didn't blame him one little bit, because I was moving that way myself already.
On a silent count of three, Kel threw open the coffin and then immediately stumbled back, a look of pure fear painted over his features in a grotesque sort of way. My blood pressure spiked instantly and I was on the highest alert I had ever been. When I glanced at the others, they all wore similar expressions of shock and fear.
Except for Eliam, who had turned solid white and fallen to his knees, looking like he was on the verge of tears.
Cry?
Eliam?
I moved from behind Gatlin and met no resistance as I peeked into the space. I could understand shock and horror, but the fear and sadness made no sense.
Inside lay a woman with crimson hair, delicate facial features, a small freckle on her left cheek, and eyes that looked oddly familiar. The horrifying part was that she was very much alive, bound completely by chains and a metal band over her mouth.
Stunned, all I could do was stare until something clicked into place, until my throat constricted so tightly that I felt like I couldn't breathe, until her eyes found my face.
Her brilliant, shining green eyes with noticeable streaks of gold throughout them.
A single tear escaped Eliam's violet eyes, tracking a gleaming trail down his cheek and he choked on a sob.
"Lillith," he whispered.
22 Ria
Tense was the word of the day. I was tense, the guys were tense, the air was tense. Hell, the tenseness was tense.
In a flurry of action and shouting, we'd all made it back to the house and were all seated around the living room. Well, most of us were seated, but Eliam was pacing back and forth in front of the TV, wearing a hole in the floor and running his hands through his hair as though he was about to pull it out by handfuls.
Not that I blamed him.
Since the shocking revelation that rocked us all to our cores, I wasn't sure that any of us were feeling the stress any less than the next person in the room, other than Lillith. She was seated in Eliam's usual spot, wrapped up in a big blanket and holding a steaming cup of chamomile tea between her strangely steady hands.
After spending however long in a coffin, chained up and held captive, I was sure that I would at least be trembling noticeably. But no, the absurdly perfect Sin of Lust was cool and collected, if a little stunned herself being discovered and retrieved by the rest of her family.
I also was having some major jealousy issues that I knew for certain that Kellan was picking up on, if his not-so-subtly glances in my direction from the corner of his eyes was anything to go by. I'd own it, I wasn't so proud that I couldn't do that. I understood that she was family, that she had been missing and everyone was beyond concerned, but she was also as old as they were and was still avoiding answering any questions directly.
So, yeah, she was getting all of this attention and I had just expended nearly every last ounce of energy in my body trying to save all of us - including her by association, since there would have been no one to find her if we had all, you know, died.
"How long were you in there?" Eliam asked, being as straightforward as he could. His voice was strained like I had never heard it before. I could tell that this whole situation was a surreal nightmare for him.
"What year is it?" Lillith countered. Her voice was a perfect, crystal clear, soprano, no sign of misuse or anything. Maybe it was a Sin thing.
Eliam groaned in frustration. It had been going on like that for the past hour or so. He would ask her a question and she would volley with a question back at him or give some sort of roundabout answer that gave zero information.
Meanwhile, I was staring at her so hard that I was giving myself a migraine, because I wasn't superhuman and still got those.
Something about her, aside from my jealousy, was setting off every red flag and mental alarm that I had. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, even though it felt like the answer was banging on the walls of my mind, demanding that I open the door.
"This is getting fucking ridiculous," I finally snapped, rubbing my temples and standing up.
Eliam turned
on me then, fixing me with a glare that would have probably frozen me solid if he wanted to. "Sit the hell down, Ria," he ordered.
"No, Eliam, this is fucking insanity," I said, exasperated. I jabbed a finger in Lillith's direction. "We're not getting anywhere with her right now and I'm so fucking tired and gross as all hell." I lifted my injured hand to him to remind him that I was still, in fact, covered in blood.
He huffed out a breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No one is telling you to stick around. This is a family matter."
The air left my lungs in a rush and I stared at him with wide eyes. Ouch...
"She's family, too," Rafe interrupted, looking pretty damn exhausted himself. His words made me feel all kinds of happy, beyond words. "She's allowed to be in on these kinds of... Issues."
"Are you seriously calling Lillith an issue?" Eliam demanded.
They started arguing back and forth, and I felt like complete and utter shit. I hadn't meant to start a bro fight when we obviously had bigger issues to deal with.
Namely, a long-lost Sin that was refusing to answer a single question about what had happened to her.
Throwing my hands in the air in frustration, I spun on my heel and stalked out of the room, sulking as I made my way up to my bathroom. I opened the medicine cabinet and found a bottle of painkillers that I downed with some water from the tap. My head was killing me.
Leaning against the sink, I stared hard at my reflection. "What am I forgetting? What do I know?" I asked myself quietly.
It was there. Whatever answers and missing pieces of the puzzle I knew were locked somewhere in my subconsciousness. They were there, I knew they were.
I looked into the mirror, staring at my own face as though it would give me all of the information I needed, but it was just my face, the same one I had seen every single day. Something tugged at my memory.
"Ow." My headache felt like it was getting worse.
Turning the water on again, I started washing the blood off my skin. The sight made me freeze up for a moment and I tamped down on those particular memories that were threatening me. While I washed, I tried to keep my mind blank or distracted. I didn't need to be reminded of how often I had done this exact thing in the past.