I leaned against the brick walls for a while, digging into my thoughts. Then when I knew hours had passed—I felt it in my bones—I found a chair to sit on instead. My mind raced with my decisions—both present and past. But the present hung more with me.
I'd rushed into the temple and took the first opportunity without considering the consequences. Gluttony told me not to, yet, I did, and here I was. Where was he? I had no idea. I hoped and prayed he escaped. He was always the one to sacrifice for me. I needed to somehow, some way, return the favor...
"Are you okay?" Priscilla approached my shadowed corner and leaned against the wall beside my chair. She looked at me with a small smile, pointing at my chest. "I don't know if those have healed all the way or more than before," she said. "I just know they were pretty bad."
"They were," I sighed, passing my hands over my chest and face. I hadn't thought about it because there wasn't any more pain. At least, not physical pain. My thoughts, guilt, and regret were a different story. "I'm okay now," I said.
"You sure?" She bit her bottom lip as she looked at me, lifting herself on the heels of her feet. "Once Gabriel walked away, you just came over here and... haven't said a word."
I raised my brows as I looked at her.
She looked away. "I know I'm in danger, but so are you," she said. "You almost died because you put yourself in the way to protect me."
"I'm the reason you're in danger. The opportunities for your soul opened because of me," I said quietly. "I was going to kill you."
"But did you? No." She bit her bottom lip, her gaze shyly meeting mine. "The keyword today is was."
Regardless of what she said, I felt like I was the reason everything went wrong, and she should avoid me. There wasn't anything I could do to the table to help. I also didn't know what I would be needed for if I could. Based on Gabriel's literature around his warehouse, I was a waste of space, the evil he was meant to extinguish.
Why was I here?
You disregarded the Seven and followed your heart. This isn't the first time you've done this.
"There you go, lost again." She giggled quietly as she slid down against the wall and sat on the floor next to me. With her arms resting on her knees, she relaxed, and her bright aura filled the surrounding space. When I looked over at her, I felt the bright light of her soul hit my body, my heart. The force of it made me want to forget the day and be thankful that Greed hadn't won, that Gluttony protected and saved me from Wrath and Lust, and that I was here. Again. With her.
But I knew that was false happiness and hope. Her soul had always made me feel like everything would be okay when I was with her. That's why I ran with her and explored the forests by her side. Her adventurous soul was my drug. I couldn't fall into that again, even though I wanted to.
Priscilla reached, so she linked her fingers together, twiddling her thumbs. "We still need to have that talk, you know," she said.
I snorted and shook my head, pushing my hands through my hair. "You still want to talk after everything's that gone on tonight?"
"Talking is good for the soul." She looked up at me, pressed her back against the wall, and felt like I was being forced to look into her eyes. I did because she was good for the soul; I wasn't sure about talking.
"So, come on," Priscilla reached for my hand, "let it out."
Let it out? Sure, I could easily start a conversation on how I was madly in love with her soul over a hundred years ago and willingly gave up my place to have her, only to lose her right after. Then, I'd fast forward to today, to my desperate attempt at rejoining the group of demons that threw me aside like trash after one wrong decision and then tossed me into the wolves' den with an offer they knew I wouldn't pass.
Gullible little sheep.
"Hello?" Priscilla batted her lashes. "I can't make tea here, or I would, so," she waved her other hand, "talk."
"He isn't going to talk to you, Priscilla." Gabriel's voice sounded. His footsteps followed. He had two guns in his hands as he returned, checking both for ammo. He nodded at the weapons before placing them on the table beside the one he used to kill Greed. Then he looked at Priscilla and me. "He's going through an existential crisis."
Mr brows knitted together. "Unnecessary," I hissed.
He shrugged as if he didn't say anything wrong. I wouldn't call what I felt a crisis, but I had questions. And it bothered me.
"Feeling like that isn't good." Priscilla tugged at my hand. "If it makes it easier. I'll talk about myself first."
Pushing herself up to stand, she tugged at my hand to get me up from my chair. I followed with a huff because what else was I supposed to do? I couldn't stay back. I knew she would let me. And if I did, I felt like Gabriel would bug the shit out of me.
So, when Priscilla led me down Gabriel's aisles of books, I walked with her without hesitation. She glanced at him as he watched us, but didn't stop. I listened to the sound of her shoes as we let him there, continuing down the makeshift aisle,
"Don't leave this building!" Gabriel called out, annoyed. "I've almost got this figured out!"
Did he? Some of me wanted to know, but as Priscilla giggled, turning as she led me far from the front of the warehouse, I wanted to hear what she had to say more. She shook her head as Gabrial's mumbling carried through the space like a quiet echo. When we reached the end of the books and the start of open trunks filled with weapons, she stopped and looked up at my face. "Gabriel's a grumpy old man," she said.
I pinched my brow together. "He looks pretty young."
"Physically, yeah," she snorted, "but he's looked like that since I was a kid, so..."
Knitted brows pushed up into my hair. There was something. Having protected her entire life. Where were her parents? Was there a story there, too? Was her father in this life as awful as the one in her past?
"Did he ever tell you why?" I chewed on my bottom lip. "There's got to be a reason."
"There is." Reaching the table on her right, she grabbed a pistol smaller than Gabriel's. She ran her fingers along the side of it, tracing what looked like rays of the sun and the outline of a lion. "He says I'm a pure soul with purpose and meaning, with a stronger connection to both realms. I've known all of this since," she tapped her chin, "ten? I think."
A stronger connection between both realms—I felt like I had something to do with that. I tainted her soul when I let her love me and when I fell for her. She was touched by darkness and willingly let it slip into her soul.
But ten years old? If a soul was going to be hunted, it needed to reach adulthood. The Seven didn't pursue children, no matter their purity. But what did she mean by purpose? Was this that plan she'd mentioned earlier?
"You've known since you were ten?" I asked.
She nodded.
I did, too, biting my lip again. "And when did he tell you about me?" My eyes slid over her face. "And how much do you know about us?"
Her lip lifted into a grin as she stared at the floor. Still holding the pistol in her hand, she twirled it so the barrel pointed at her feet. When she looked at me, she hummed and bit her bottom lip. "I was eighteen when I got the full story," she said. "About how a demon was sent to kill me, and instead of doing that, he protected me and fell in love with me. He swore to always dedicate his life to me, but then," she gave a small shrug and sighed, "things happened, I died, and the demon was sent to live an eternity without me."
Priscilla snorted before putting the gun back on the table she'd taken it from. She still made a point of touching it before looking at me again. "When I first heard about it, I thought it was a dark romantic fairy tale. You know, teenage girls fantasizing about the wrong things."
I rubbed my face as I smiled awkwardly, avoiding her gaze, and looked at the floor instead. "Fantasizing about sexy demons?"
"Exactly." She cleared her throat and giggled again. "But it wasn't until I dreamt about you that it felt real, you know." Her eyes slid back up to mine. "It became more than just stories, more than memories, and I... I actually wanted to meet you again. Maybe that's why I painted you everywhere? I thought, maybe if I put you in ink, you'd manifest."
That idea was romantic. To summon me with her love of art and her creativity. It made me smile, but I couldn't let her see that. I turned my face to hide the look on my face but thought back to every dream I had of her, every memory I held on to.
You are the same, aren't you? Hopeless romantics. Stay calm and listen.
"When you walked into the gallery, you were hot. Yeah, that's why I went up to you." She stepped toward me and put her hand on my chest. "But you were so lost and sweet, I wanted to talk to you. Then when you came back to my place, and you stood next to my paintings... I just needed to know, you know?"
My heart thumped in my chest. So hard she probably felt it under her fingertips. But what was I supposed to do? Leave? We were surrounded by trunks and books, demon-killing weapons, and blades. The space at the back of the warehouse was dangerous, yet... it should've appealed to my Sinful soul. It partly did. With Priscilla pressed against me, her heart beating as hard as mine, I felt like making all the wrong choices.
And if the angel finds you, you'll die.
I brushed my hand over her face. "Like I said earlier, Priscilla, what you felt... I felt it, too."
"Hm." She pressed her lips into a thin line before passing her tongue along her bottom lip. Her bright eyes looked up at me again. Her light brown cheeks reddened, and warmed; I felt her heat. "I stopped being scared of the idea of you and our past a long time ago. I thought this was all fate. One dark, twisted, ill-fated destiny someone would only find in a book." She slid her hands down my chest until she found mine and held them tight. "Because of it, I always tried to live for today and looked to Gabriel and his protection. To make it. He says he's got it, he's figuring it out, and with whatever plan he said he had before, I believe him. But if all fails, then," she shrugged, "having met you, even if it was like this, was worth it."
"Okay, I'm listening," I squeezed her hands back, "but help me understand."
She nodded, brows lifting.
"You mean to tell me you've been... waiting to meet me?" I let out a long breath. "Why?"
"Ever feel like a piece of you is missing?" She bit her lip. "I always thought if I met you again in this life because I knew I would one day, then I wouldn't feel empty." She smiled. "So, I did my best, smiled every day, and focused on the good things in life because I knew the good would come naturally one day."
I leaned back, eyes widening a bit. She sounded so much like Priscilla one hundred years ago. Her life then wasn't easy, but she made the most out of it. And when I appeared and stepped into her life—even though my reasons were wrong—I filled her life with more love than her soul alone could ever do for her. The more I listened, the more she reminded me of her past self. Not wanting to live in fear. Fleeing for safety and freedom the second she saw the opportunity. I learned so much from my old Priscilla. I relished in her liberating atmosphere. Even though I knew then I couldn't have stayed by her side, I wanted to because I thought I had a chance.
"Here I am, getting sappy," she giggled, shaking her head as she rubbed her cheeks, "I'm blushing, aren't I? I feel so hot. Ugh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be." I wouldn't let her back down from this. She was honest about something she'd felt for years; what was wrong with that? I knew, from experience, keeping that inside hurt. A lot. Why should I let her hold it in? That went against her beliefs, right? With both of my hands, I pulled hers away from her face. The blush remained, her eyes glistened, and because she kept biting her lip, it was swollen and glistening. "Talking is good for the soul, isn't that what you say?"
"Yeah," a sweet smile graced her face, "you're right, I do say that. And I guess, right now, after this little talk—it's the best time to give you one of your requests."
"My requests?" Did I have any? I couldn't remember.
She nodded with a quiet 'mhm,' before returning to the table with the weapons on top of it. She grabbed the same small one she had seconds before. Looking back at the lion engraving, she smiled. "In my dreams, you always asked me to forgive you because you made the wrong choices." Lifting her gaze, she met mine with love and care. Then she stepped back to me, reaching for my chin. Her thumb brushed across my bottom lip. "I forgive you, Octavio."
Did I ask her that in her dreams? I asked her that same question in life, for her to forgive me.
She then reached for my hand and placed the gun in my palm. I wasn't sure what to do with it. "Am I supposed to accept my sins and end it?" I lifted my brow as I looked at her.
"No." She snorted quietly and shook her head. "Don't be cryptic. I need you to forgive yourself, too."
Forgiving myself wasn't easy. I never thought to do it. My focus had been learning to live with my actions but never forgive myself. Demons never had... those goals in mind. We were cryptic.
Gabriel's footsteps came in our direction. They echoed between the trunks and shelves, bouncing off the walls with the force of each step. Priscilla looked back as she turned, and I lifted my gaze. We watched as Gabriel turned between the makeshift aisles and paused once he saw how close we were. He passed his hand over his chin before closing his eyes.
"I knew this would happen," he whispered to himself. "It was only a matter of time...just didn't think it'd happen so soon."
"What was?" Priscilla passed one hand over her neck as he approached us.
"Souls," he said, grabbing a pistol once he was close to the table. He glanced at the weapon before pointing it at me, head cocked to one side. I inched back against the wall and stared at the barrel. Was he going to shoot me? My gaze passed over to Priscilla as I hoped she'd give me a silent answer.
With her giggle, the way she covered her mouth and shook her head, she did. This was just intimidation, like an overprotective father.
The gun clicked in his hand as he huffed out air. "Do you know how many guys have tried?" he said through clenched teeth. "They came, she saw, she did everything one would think could make her soul move on, but nope." Sighing, he dropped the gun at his side and looked at my face. "It would always be you in the end."
I glanced back at Priscilla. Her cheeks darkened again, and she smiled as she looked away. I could hear her heart from where I stood; an excited thump thump. Souls—once connected and paired, either through love or sacrifice, were inseparable. Priscilla and I were one, even if our realms weren't the same, and our lords couldn't accept it.
Gabriel passed the gun he had in his hand over to Priscilla. "This day was coming, and I'd been preparing for one hundred years..."
I looked back at him, eyes wide, brows pinched. "What?"
He looked at me like he'd answer me, but his hand gaze passed down to my hand, to the gun still in my grip. I glanced at it, too, having forgotten I was holding it and still didn't know why I was, to begin with.
"Why are you holding that?" Gabriel then pointed at the gun. "Who said you can hold that?" he asked.
I held the pistol beside my face as Priscilla looked at my hand, then at Gabriel. "I gave it to him," she said, reaching over to the table for her gun. "The more hands we have, the better, right?"
"What?" He looked at her with disbelief. As Priscilla swapped the gun she grabbed with another, Gabriel quickly took it from her. Her look of disappointment radiated in the room. "First, my job is to protect you, not put you in danger. And second," he glanced at me before tossing Priscilla's gun back on the table, then snatched mine away, "I don't need more hands. His aren't needed, that's for sure. I came back here to tell you both we can move to the safe house, and I can go do what I got to do."
"By yourself?" Priscila blinked at him, hands on her hips.
"Yes, by myself, shit!" Gabriel tossed the weapons in an open trunk. "You think this is my first rodeo fighting demons? Come on."
"No," Priscilla pursed her lips, then glanced at me, "but I thought the help of a demon would make a difference. And me?" She pressed her hands against her chest. "You taught me how to use all of this stuff, so I'm not some damsel in distress here."
"You're not." He pointed at her. "But if anything happens to your soul, I...I..."
His eyes slid over to me. For the first time since meeting him, I noticed a light in his eyes; a flicker of gold like Priscilla's. He passed his hands over his mouth before dipping his head back in frustration. "Question." He glanced at me. "Big guy, about seven feet, can eat a horse and bench a bus. Is he still a Sin? Or was he replaced after all these years?"
Gluttony?
This angel has been on Earth for a long time, hasn't he?
I took a step toward Gabriel, but I couldn't think of what to say. He knew Gluttony and described him to a tee. Even used the words Gluttony would use when talking about himself. A small smile lifted my lips as I thought of the old, then that happiness faded.
Gluttony is the demon in his plan, isn't he? Old Sin had a lot up his sleeve.
"Gluttony... I left him..." I whispered, letting my gaze drop to the floor. "He came, saved me, and I..."
"Saved you?" Gabriel cleared his throat. "Let me guess, because you couldn't kill her, Gluttony had to save you from Wrath and Lust?"
I nodded.
It looked like everyone knew my business, both and present. There was no running from it. It was the truth. And history was repeating itself... with some differences. I couldn't kill Priscilla before, but I didn't have the Seven hunting me down for my mistake. They'd willingly let me go once she died; Gluttony had told me it was done and told me to run.
Looking over at Priscilla, I thought about it. Gluttony said she was dead and I needed to run, to save myself. But if it had been done and her soul was given to darkness... how was she here again? And under the protection of an angel?
Someone needed to answer this for me. Gluttony said he would, but how was I supposed to find him?
"What you're going to ask," Gabriel pointed at me, "I can't answer."
I gritted my teeth. "Reading my thoughts is intrusive," I hissed.
"Oh, sure, sorry," he cocked a brow, "But I will look for Gluttony and bring him to the safe house," he said, clicking his teeth. "He'll be good to have in this fight."
An angel who thinks a Sin is good. Interesting.
"We'll go to the safe house, and I'll drop you both off." Gabriel reached into the trunk for one of the pistols he tossed, then latched it closed. He checked the ammo before pressing it into the back of his jeans. "Then I'll go find your friend."
"How..." I bit my lip. "How do you know he's my friend?"
He smiled weakly, gesturing for Priscilla to go to the door. Then he looked back at me. "Do you think he's the only reason you got out of the Seven alive one hundred years ago? Now that you're here, I guess I should keep it that way."