Seven Deadly Sins

Chapter Seventy One: Game Of Death

Hailie never liked being in the center of attention. In her circle of friends, she liked taking place as that quiet one, who weren't too confident without her girly besties, who were always there to make a dumb, but funny decisions. It was Amy who always adored being in a spotlight. She was seeking it all the time. Even though she had a boyfriend, she absolutely loved being adored by other boys, as well as by the girls. Hailie was always standing aside, in the shadow, while all the eyes were set on Amy. Maybe that's why Amy was so jealous of her and Jayson? He seemed to never notice his so-called friend, being interested only in Hailie.

Being the main topic of conversations never seemed like a good thing for Hailie. Neither when she was friends with Amy and the gang, nor when she moved to the Bloody Mansion. She thought that after being widely gossiped among people from the town, she partly got used to being talked about. That couldn't be further from the truth and she understood it in the moment she and Lust walked into the Casino Hell.

For her it was like a movie scene. Here comes the most charming and handsome man in a company of a girl which everybody thought about as an ordinary teenager, while the true beauty was hidden inside her. In the dress that she was wearing, she truly felt sexy and beautiful. But it wasn't the dress or her look that made everybody so moved.

It was both horrifying and amusing to watch. They walked in and all the creatures and demons had frozen. They've stopped doing whatever they were doing, and their eyes set on Lust and Hailie. Just as if they were doing a wave of time stopping, first the entities in front of them. Half-naked male demons and shining brightly and darkly at the same time female demons, they stopped talking and gambling. They sensed them right away, or rather, they sensed her. And after the ones in the front, all others followed. She noticed such various creatures, from ones with their skin made of thorns, through entities with red as a blood skin and black eyes, to those who seemed as if they were taken out from the worst nightmares.

Everything went dead quiet. The silence was unbearable and dreadful, because Hailie knew that everybody thought about them. And then it started. Whispers and voices full of bewilderment and disbelief.

"Is that a human?"

"A living one!"

"He's fraternizing with them once again."

"What a nerve to bring her here!"

"Maybe he wants to get her killed as well."

"First child, now a girl."

"How he dares showing up in Hell at all?!"

"We'll make it a night to remember."

"Tasty."

Hailie was too confused and paralyzed to catch up the words spoken, but Lust heard it all. He knew exactly what everybody was saying, but he decided not to care. Nobody could stand up to him, unless someone had a death wish. He believed in his strength and that's why everything about him screamed 'confidence'. Hailie couldn't understand how Lust could stay so chill and careless in a situation so stressful and dangerous.

He didn't care at all. Without letting her hand, he confidently walked right into the Lion's Den. He didn't talk to nobody, neither did he look, ignoring them all like they were just insects on his road. And yet, Hailie couldn't relax, feeling all the eyes on her skin and face. She wasn't as brave as Lust, so she kept staring at the floor made from a plain royal red and gold material with coins on the edges. In this casino money didn't matter. From what Lust said, everybody was playing for souls, important belongings or freedom.

"Coming here with a human by your side, that's offensive, even for you, Lust." Something stepped in their way. Hailie thought that it was a male demon, because he had a low, rough voice, but she couldn't be sure. It had a lizard's face with patches of green scales that looked as if they were about to fall off. His eyes were yellow with oblong pupils and a tail was sticking out from the back of his body. "No humans are allowed here, unless you want to put her on a stake." It was clear from the tone of his voice that he doubted it. Surely, Lust already had an opinion about his connections with humans. Somehow everybody doubted that he came here with a human for fun and gambling.