Linked

18: seven minutes with seven.

Lucky 7 was a humble-looking store operating in an alleyway.

The streets in front of the alley was busy with people walking left to right in order to reach their destinations. As usual, there was traffic and cars were honking at each other. The city lights were blinding. When you enter this special alleyway where Lucky 7 was located, it felt like you weren't even in the city anymore.

The alley was dark and the only thing lighting it up was the red neon sign that read, "Lucky 7" that kept on blinking. The store honestly looked abandoned but inside of it, there was surprisingly a lot of people.

Rich looking people were looking at the items that were for sale. According to Sol, every item in the store has a demon inside of it.

Seven was at the cash register and was talking with a customer who was holding a compact.

"Can this compact actually make me beautiful?" The customer asked.

Seven smiled. "Yep! Put the powder that's in the compact on your face and every one who sees you will immediately think you're the most beautiful person in the room!"

The customer smiled. "Perfect! I needed this! I have to win as beauty pageant and I want to steal this bitch's boyfriend! How much is it?"

"$7,000," Seven answered.

"Deal!" The customer cried, digging into her purse to get her card to pay for the small compact.

Sol and I were watching the whole transaction from the side.

"That's how Seven forms his master-servant pacts," Sol told me.

"By selling stuff?" I asked.

"For the pact to be valid, there needs to be consent between the human and the demon. Technically, the customer who's with Seven had consented to the deal. So, Seven is making the demon in the compact make her beautiful. In return, Seven will get the customer's soul," Sol explained.

"What happens to the demon in the compact?" I asked, watching the customer leave the store with a black, tiny, lacy shopping bag. The compact was obviously in the bag.

"Nothing. They're stuck in there until Seven himself lets them out. A powerful demon can command other demons to do whatever they want as long as they know their full name. Seven is commanding the demon in the compact to serve the customer for him by making her beautiful," he explained.

"Wow. So you were in the compass thanks to Seven, right?" I asked.

Sol sighed. "Yes. I was ordered to point whatever human signs a contract to Seven to their 'soulmate' but the contract is only valid if the human actually pays for the item. Your friend didn't which is why I didn't point you to your soulmate."

"Can you do that for me now?" I asked him.

"Right now I am your soulmate," Sol answered with annoyance in his voice.

"Make sense," I responded. "Okay, so what happens to the demon after it does what it's supposed to do?"

"Seven eats the demon," Sol answered.

I blinked. "Come again?"

"Seven has contracts with humans and demons but the outcomes are different. He gets human servants and demons become his meals," Sol said.

"Isn't that cannibalisms?" I asked.

Sol shrugged. "Maybe? I mean, we're not even alive. I don't get it either but that's how it is. That's also how demons are able to kill other demons."

"So wait. If Ortega did what he was supposed to and paid for the compass you were in..." I started.

"I'd point you to your 'soulmate,' Ortega becomes Sevens servant, and Seven eats me," he finished for me.

I noticed him shiver. That caused me to shiver as well.

Seven noticed us. "Long time no see! I was starting to think you two hated me!"

I grabbed Sol's hand and found out that he's shaking. It's never hit me that he was scared of Seven. But his reason to fear Seven was valid. He's Seven's next meal.

I looked up at him in reassurance as I dragged him over to the cash register. However, I didn't feel assured myself. I wanted to run away. I've never had a reason to fear Seven and I still don't. But simply knowing who he was and what he does was enough for me to fear him. To both humans and demons, Seven is the devil.

"Don't get it twisted. We hate you," Sol answered when we were standing at the cash register. He glared at Seven to get his point across.

"Ah. Looks like our little sunny boy's gotten bold while he was away. Your forget that we still have a master-servant pact, Sol Eguiluz," Seven said. His eyes started to glow red the minute he said Sol's first and last name.

Immediately, Sol started to cough up blood. I slid my hand out of his hand and backed away on instinct. Then I realized something. I'm not coughing up blood. Is it because the master-servant pact is between Seven and Sol?

It had suddenly hit me just how much Sol and Suji saved me by not saying my name when Seven visited last time. Who knows what he'd do to me?

Seven's red eyes went away and he smiled at me. "What brings you here to Lucky 7?"

I nervously rolled down my left sleeve and showed him the cuts on my wrists. "Sol has the same exact thing as me. They just appear out of nowhere and we don't know why."

It took every bone in my body to avoid looking at Sol who was still coughing up blood.

"Ooh...demon magic! I'm familiar with that!" Seven cried.

"So this is demon magic?" I asked.

"Yeah. Ancient demon magic to be precise," Seven answered, looking at Sol. The minute he did, Sol stopped coughing.

"Back then, whenever a demon formed a master-servant pact with a human, they'd use the strike system in order to time and keep an eye on the human. Once the human gets all 7 strikes, the demon gets the human's soul and the human becomes the demon's servant. But these days, us demons don't use the strike system anymore simply because it's a forgotten practice. We have different methods to time and keep an eye on humans," Seven explained.

"But Sol and I don't have a master-servant pact and I highly doubt he knows how to use the strike system," I said.

"Exactly, which makes this weird. This is definitely because of your link," Seven said.

"So if I get all 7 strikes, will my soul get sold to Sol?" I asked.

Seven shrugged. "I guess we'll find out."

I shook my head. "I don't want to find out. I want our link broken before I get to 7 strikes."

Seven grinned. "I'd also like for your souls to be unlinked as soon as possible." Then, he lost the grin he wore on his face and his eyes sharply moved to look at Sol. "The minute your soul unlinks, he's mine."

...

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