The Seven Deadly Sinners

8

It was now the third hour of me just sitting in Colby's room. I was sat on the floor right next to his desk, a place where he wouldn't walk over and run into me or pay specific attention to if he came in. I heard people walking around every so often, making routine patrols to find me. It was too risky to open the window right now and then walk on the roof when they were still so avidly listening for me.

I wondered how long I could even stay invisible. I didn't know how to activate it and certainly didn't know how to deactivate it. For all I knew, I could sitting here fully visible at that very moment and the next time someone walked up here, I would be grabbed and tied up and killed or something insane like that. They'd said that they had been looking for me all this time. Except that they thought they were looking for the devil. Was I the devil? No, I fucking wasn't. What had they called me? Lilith. I'd never heard of her, so there was no way she was as notorious or evil as the devil. Plus there was no fucking way I was a literal demon or spirit without being aware of it. That couldn't be how this all worked.

I realized I was literally shaking out of fear. I probably had been this entire time. Getting trapped in a house with a bunch of people who possibly wanted to injure or even kill me? Fine. Been there, done that. But not in a giant house with people who had legitimate powers that had just watched me turn invisible right in front of their eyes. This was uncharted territory. Normal tactics wouldn't get me out of here. Plus, I could barely even hurt them. They had their powers and not 'fully human' bodies that seemed to heal insanely quickly. Brennen did seem to feel the pain, though. I needed to keep this second knife on me and not make the mistake of leaving it lodged in someone's body next time so I could hurt more than one of them if need be.

I heard footsteps approaching again. I straightened my back to give me optimal breathing posture so I could breathe quieter and with shallower breaths while still getting sufficient airflow. I soon learned that the footsteps belonged to Colby. He walked into his room and shut the door behind him. Fuck. Once the door was shut, he drew back his fist and punched the wall. Hard.

"Motherfucker," he whispered, shaking his hand out in pain. He sighed angrily and plopped down on the edge of his bed, burying his head in his hands. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he whispered to himself. I stared at him. Colby wasn't angry or scared anymore. He was sad. But why?

He dug his phone out of his pocket and called someone. He put it on speaker and dropped it onto his bed and got up to pace the floor.

"Satan?" a man answered.

"Hey, Belial," Colby sighed. Another demon.

"What's going on, man? Charon told me something was up. I know all of the other guys are at the house protecting the outside for some reason. Sorry I couldn't be there, I've just got some business to handle in Texas," Belial said.

"No, not a problem. Don't need to apologize. I just... I just need to rant. And you know how all of this destiny and fate and mythology stuff works and I just need to hear some answers right now," Colby said.

"Sure, man. I'm all ears," Belial answered. Colby took a deep breath and sped up his pacing.

"You know that the only reason The Seven are even here is because Hades sent Aria and Charon down here to complete The Octet," Colby started. Aria and Charon were Mike and Brennen.

"Right, did you finally find the devil? Astaroth? It's been what, 200 years now?" Belial asked. What? Two hundred fucking years? Yeah, right. Colby was my age.

"Two hundred thirty-six, yeah. The legend says that He occupies the body of a human and when the human dies he just latches onto another one, right?" Colby said.

"Right, that the human doesn't know He's there. Until they learn about The Seven. It freaks a human out so much to try and fathom the idea of something they consider to be folklore as true. Sends their brain into frenzy mode and activates the beginning of the transformation if they're the right one," Belial explained.

"Yeah, so, um, what exactly is that transformation supposed to entail?" Colby asked.

"Generally starts out with the most prominent power revealing itself. Depends on what the power is, but odds are that the person won't know that they're responsible for whatever effect it's having," said Belial. "Then after the ritual that Aria's going to have to do, it releases all of the powers and abilities. Astaroth is going to have the most control and power out of all of you guys. That's why He's the rightful leader of The Octet and you're second up. The second Aria finishes that ritual, He will have more control and power than all of you combined. But they're not going to have a damn clue what's going on. Since the ritual officially bonds them as the leader of The Octet and you're the second in command, Astaroth's going to instinctually trust you the most and it's going to be up to you to explain everything."

"Right, okay. And the final member of The Octet can't be Urged by any of us, correct?" Colby asked. Urged. Was that what they called the thing they do with their eyes?

"Yeah. And your abilities won't work on them either, once they figure out what you guys are," Belial answered. They called their powers abilities. "I understand why you're asking this stuff, man, but why the sudden panic? You guys have been preparing for and expecting him for literally over two centuries."

"Right. We have been expecting the devil. Expecting Him."

"And is he not there now? Is that not what's going on?" asked Belial.

"Uh, well," Colby said. His voice was shaking. "It's not him. It's not Astaroth."

"Well then who is it?" Belial asked, chuckling. Clearly he wasn't expecting the answer he was going to get.

"It's Lilith," said Colby.