Deals with the Devil (PA #1)

Chapter 2

Alexander (Greed), Age Seven

My mother is going to kill me. She put me in charge of watching Romeo, Lizzie, and Willow while she took the other kids out to the lake of fire, but I lost the three of them when I turned my attention away for just a second.

I was distracted by the gold watch one of the guards was wearing, as I briefly wondered the best way to steal it away from him. I have a habit of taking things that don't belong to me, but I can always blame it on my Sin—Greed—to get out of trouble if I get caught. Usually, that works. Unless it's my mother who catches me. Then, her face turns as red as her hair as she yells at me. Ragnar must get his anger from her, although he's much worse.

Once I check back into the situation at hand, I decide to search for the kids in their favorite spot. For some reason, the three of them are obsessed with this random storage room they found a few months ago. It's dusty and full of spiders, but that doesn't keep them from pretending it's some grand spaceship. Or gingerbread house. Or whatever else they imagine that day.

Walking quickly on the black-and-white tiled floors, I pass several more guards in red-and-black uniforms, as well as high-level demons in fancy outfits. Many of them bow slightly as I near them, but I barely notice.

After turning the corner in the east wing, I slow to a full stop in front of a room with the same black doors and golden handles as the rest of my family's castle. Even before opening the door, I can hear the childish giggles that tell me I'm in the right place.

Storming into the room, I watch as Romeo, Lizzie, and Willow turn their heads in my direction after my loud arrival. They stop giggling, quickly looking away with guilty expressions on their faces. They know they aren't supposed to run off like that, but they tend to make stupid decisions when they're all together.

Speaking of stupid, I see that the fourth member of their little group is also with them. Killian, Cerberus' son, is the same age as Lizzie and Willow. Since Cerberus is my father's head advisor and his wife is dead, Killian spends a lot of time with the family, even having the same tutors and classes as the rest of us. He joins us for family dinners, too, which is super annoying. It's bad enough having Willow there.

"I told you he'd find us, Rome," Lizzie is quick to point out. As prideful as she is, even at three years old, she won't let being in the wrong hold her back for long.

"Okay, doodoo head. Do you want a cookie?" Despite being close to Lizzie, Romeo likes to annoy her on a regular basis. Knowing that this might take a while, I just lean against the doorframe and let it all play out.

Killian, unsurprisingly, is quick to come to my sister's defense. "Don't talk to her like that, Rome! If anyone's a doodoo head, it's you!"

"Yeah, well, you're a big stinker, Kill, and you look like a dog! Woof woof!" Considering that Killian is a hellhound shifter, Romeo isn't completely wrong.

Killian still manages to get offended by the slight truth, though. "At least I don't look like a girl! Your hair is long and curly just like your sister's. We should call you Romina!"

Romeo responds by running towards Killian while throwing his hands up and screaming out a battle cry. Before he can make it to Killian and attempt to hurt the younger kid, Lizzie and Willow step in.

Lizzie blocks the front of Killian's body with her much smaller one, while Willow grabs onto Romeo's arms and then pulls him into a hug. Willow then whispers something into his ear that's too quiet for me to hear, but whatever it is works in calming Romeo down.

Honestly, Willow seems to always have that effect on Romeo, like it's her superpower or something. It makes absolutely no sense for a human to cause such an impact on the son of Lucifer. Drives me nuts, really.

Romeo tips his chin up and says, "Sorry, Kill. You're not a big stinker. You do kinda look like a dog, though."

This time, Killian laughs. "It's okay, Rome. I don't really think you look like a girl, even though you and Ellie look so much alike." Killian isn't wrong; Romeo and Lizzie both have black hair that curls to their shoulders and dark green eyes.

After waiting a few extra seconds, Willow releases Rome and Lizzie steps away from Killian in time for the boys to move forward and hug each other.

"As beautiful of a moment as this is, you guys are still in trouble for ditching me. You all know better than that, even if you are little babies," I say, pretty much ruining the good mood of the room. "You're just lucky that mom and the other kids didn't come back before I found you. What were you doing in here, anyway?"

Willow is the one to answer me. She removes the purple triangular hat that I'm just now noticing from her dark blonde hair and shoves it in my direction. In that quiet voice of hers that I always have to strain to hear, she answers, "We were playing. I was a wizard that used my blood magic to turn Killian into a dragon. As a dragon, he stole Princess Eli away with his razor claws, and then Rome was trying to save her. You came in just as Killian was biting Eli's leg off. She tastes like chicken."

Well, that answers that. I'm going to have to tell Anne to quit giving them such graphic stories before bedtime. Even though this is Hell, and I don't even like Willow that much, they're still little kids and they shouldn't be exposed to bad stuff yet. Not like me, Ragnar, and the twins were. I swear, sometimes I feel way too old for my body.