Sinners' Kingdom #1: The Book of Lust (Complete)

11

If I were a piece of shit, I would have bolted out of here the second Juliet left the room. Oh, sure, the Coven's top trackers would hunt me down in less than an hour even in this blizzard, best case scenario, but whatever. I could live in my illusion while it lasted. Run away, find a hidey-hole to curl up in, and fuck the world. The demon could come through me to terrorize the entire world if it wanted, so long as no one executed me for the sake of the greater good. Who cared, anyway?

Well, I cared. Because I was better than that. A billion lives, or just one? What kind of person would even wonder which they should choose?

But that didn't mean I was giving up. I only had one life. And I was going to fight for it even if I had to wrestle a thousand Princes all at once.

When Juliet returned to help me continue researching, her expression was too solemn. I didn't have to ask why. She had probably already made arrangements for the Coven to pick me up tonight, since they probably thought it too risky to transport me without a whole guard. I wanted to hate her for it, but I had already agreed that she would report this if we found no leads today. Worse, the one paltry lead we did find just condemned me either way. There was no way to counteract a Prince coming through, if his information was credible, and the only method of stopping a too-powerful demon summoning was to kill the medium. If that failed, the end. There was nothing anyone could do anymore. So of course Juliet would turn me over. Who in their right mind would calmly sit and believe in their hopes and dreams if a psycho with a bomb walked into the room?

"Sable. Sable!"

I jerked awake, body jolting off the chair to shoot to my feet. Juliet stared at me from across the library table where we had returned to earlier.

"You fell asleep," she said lightly. "Be careful. Let's make the most of the time we have left."

She was right. I had gone without sleep again last night and now it was killing me, but I'd get all the sleep I'd ever need if the Coven chopped off my head. Work now. Rest later. One way or another.

But the hours slipped by... and nothing.

My fingers grew cold. Every page I turned left small cuts, my clumsiness growing worse and worse the later it got. The combination of the fatigue, fear, and the dawning realization that nothing I did mattered now all melded together in a sickening, syrupy stream, clogging up my thoughts, my senses.

We skipped dinner. Eating didn't feel like a priority.

Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.

From far away, heavy knocks resounded through the house. The echoing noise was louder and lower than it should have been, like it came from the other end of a sprawling stone castle.

I ignored it at first, but Juliet eventually removed my hand from my book and closed it gently.

"Sable..."

"Yeah. I know. Let's just get it over with."

I moved like I was in a dream, but I surprised myself. Didn't trip even once going down the hall. My grandmother would have clapped me on the back and told me I was a bad bitch for being so fearless, but really, it was probably just the numbness that did me in. Still, it counted. I dispassionately checked my appearance in the mirror on the wall before exiting the hallway, ignoring the red gleam that stared at me over my shoulder and vanished whenever I tried to focus on it. Just my mind playing more games, that was all.

Well, if the Prince tormenting me wanted to play hardball, I'd give it hardball. It had messed with the wrong jaded woman today. Execution? Whatever. Free me from this mortal coil then, finally. Honestly, they were doing me a favor. No more bills, no more loud upstairs neighbors banging on the ceiling or adjacent neighbors banging on the walls, no more dogs barking in the complex at two in the morning, no more telemarketers calling me while I was vegetating on the couch. It wasn't so bad.

My bravado didn't even hiccup when we reached the front door. As Juliet reached to open it, I glanced at the wide mirror hanging over the end table one last time, making sure I didn't look afraid, not one bit. If this was the way I went out, I'd make it a good one.

Bad bitch, my grandmother would remind me. Head up high and chest out.

The door opened, and with a blast of arctic wind and a wall of snow that instantly melted as soon as it passed the threshold, two men in black witch hunter uniforms stepped through. They looked like someone wanted to cosplay FBI agents then got it confused with modern Dracula retellings. Ah, the Coven and its fashion statements.

"Sable Solaria, we are escorting you to the Witch Grounds," one announced. "Will you come willingly?"

Obviously. They would drag me by the heels if I didn't. I stepped forward, steeling myself—

A hissing voice filled the room, echoing and liquid, like quicksilver made into sound:

"I don't think so."

And then a red-eyed apparition emerged from the mirror, grinning wide.