Deals with the Devil (PA #1)

Chapter 1

Ragnar (Wrath), Age Six

"I don't like surprises," I tell my father.

He interrupted my combat history lesson in order to show me and my younger siblings something that he refuses to give any details about. At six and three-quarters, I feel like I'm old enough to get secret information before any of the little kids around me, especially since I'm the only one mature and smart enough to learn about war.

"You don't like anything, Wrath," Alexander replies in that annoying voice of his. Despite being only a year apart, we do not get along. Oil and water, our mother always says. We almost never call each by our real names, instead choosing to address each other by our Sins.

"Well, I definitely don't like you, Greed," I say with as much wrath in my words as possible. I will one day lead Hell's army, and I want to be able to scare people with just my voice. Based on both my father's and Alexander's straight faces, I'm not very successful.

Our father sighs as he leads us towards the nursery. As close in age as the seven of us are—only a year separating one kid from the next—the nursery has been occupied by at least one baby for almost seven years. While I grew out of the baby crib ages ago, I usually stop by every night to check in on my siblings. There is something about the room, with murals of tortured and screaming humans, that I find to be very comforting.

The youngest ones, Romeo and Lizzie, are the only babies left in the nursery. Gwen, at three years old, should probably still be in there, but she was too envious of her older siblings' rooms and demanded to have her own. A real drama queen, that one. It's no surprise that she gets along so well with Alexander. Even now, she holds onto his hand with her chubby little fingers, struggling to keep up with the fast pace that our father sets.

As usual, Ari is at the back of the pack, moving through the hall as he moves through life—slowly. His Sin is Sloth, which apparently means that he's always going to be lazy and unbothered by anything in life. It drives me crazy sometimes, but I still like him better than I do Alexander.

As she always does, Anne slows down to walk beside Ari. Being born the year after Alexander, the twins do everything together. Anne's Sin is Gluttony, which goes well with Sloth, since you can always count on the two of them to be the last to finish a meal. Anne, because she eats four times as much as anyone else, and Ari, because he likes to chew in slow motion. It never fails to make me angry, especially since our mother won't let any of us leave the table until everyone is done eating.

So lost in my thoughts, I hardly realize that our father has stopped walking. He turns around and stands in the doorway of the nursery, peering down at us with the same black eyes that I see in the mirror every day. He pushes some of his black hair away from his face, taking a deep breath before he says something that will unknowingly change my life.

"I picked up a child from the human realm. No, not a child, she's too young for that. Just a baby, really, as she's barely older than Elizabeth. By a month, maybe. I actually forgot to ask for her exact birthday. Fuck, I'm really screwing this up. Wait, don't tell your mother that I said fuck. Shit. Pretend you didn't hear that either. Okay, here's the deal. There's a baby in there that's going to live with us from now on. She's human, so she's not as tough as you guys are. Keep that in mind if you decide to play with her. Her name is Willow. You can go see her if you want, but her and Elizabeth are sleeping right now, so be quiet. I'm also tired, so if you have any questions, ask your mother. I'll see you all at dinner."

Before any of us can say anything, our father is gone. I hate it when he uses his powers to leave without having to walk like the rest of us. Normally, I would let my anger at his sudden disappearance boil up until I hit something or yell at someone, but I'm too distracted by his words to give anything else much attention. Likewise, my siblings all just stand there without saying anything.

Alexander is the first to break the silence. Shocking. "Let's go look at her. I've never seen a human up close and Bael once told me that they're super gross. Like, they have slimy skin and they all smell like farts." Gwen giggles at this because she's three and all three-year-olds think that farts are hilarious. Obviously, I'm too old for something like that.

As the oldest sibling, I decide to enter the room first and see this new human baby. Not even focusing on the murder murals I love so much, I walk to the cribs at the far end of the room. Inside of the first, Lizzie is lying fast asleep. If she was old enough to understand anything, I think she wouldn't feel too prideful at the way she's sucking on her thumb with drool running down her chin. As it is, I doubt she'll remember it.

Moving to the next crib, which has been empty since Gwen got her own room, I get my first glimpse at the human baby. She's smaller than Lizzie, which doesn't make sense because my father said that the human is older than my sister. The human—Willow—is just as dead to the world as Lizzie, although she isn't drooling at all.

As far as I can tell, she doesn't smell like farts. I reach my hand through the bars of the crib to test her skin for sliminess, but before I can, my youngest brother stops me by batting my hand away.

Romeo, having just turned two years old, shouldn't be strong enough to hurt my hand as much as he does. I didn't even notice him sitting there in the crib, as preoccupied with the human as I was. After glaring at me with his green eyes, he turns his attention to Willow. He stares at her unblinking while holding one of her closed fists with his non-hitting hand. It's kind of creepy how focused he is.

"Well? Is her skin slimy? I can't smell her, but she looks kinda weird. She's all red and bald-looking. Humans must be ugly creatures if they all look like that," Alexander once again breaks the silence to spit out his dumb thoughts.

"Just shut up, Greed. Dad said that we have to be quiet, and I'm sick of your voice, anyway," I reply in an angry whisper.

Alexander narrows his eyes at me, but before he can say something back, Ari steps between us and speaks first. Even as a four-year-old, he's always good at keeping me and Alexander from fighting, usually by saying things that should be too difficult for him. "Hey, guys. We should all come back once the baby is done sleeping. I'm sure Willow needs her rest, and she'll probably be more entertaining when she's awake."

Nodding our heads in agreement, Alexander and I turn towards the door and start to follow our younger siblings out of the room. Before she's completely gone from sight, I glance back at Willow. Unlike my brother, I don't think she's ugly. She's not even bald, either. Different, sure, but cute in her own way.