Bad Influence (Seven Deadly Sins #2) ✅ Completed

Chapter Forty: Two Gifts

“How many times do you think they’ll send those Winchesters to Hell?”

“I’m guessing until the day they figure out how to stop sacrificing themselves for each other in their efforts to constantly save the world,” Dante replied.

We were sitting on the couch in my livingroom, a bowl of microwave popcorn between us. I watched the brothers in question for another second before turning back to Dante, “But isn’t that the whole point? Them against evil – no bond more important than the one they share as brothers?”

Dante shrugged. “I guess if you’re into that sort of thing.”

“What? Caring for your family?”

“Yes,” he replied. His eyes cut over to mine and they were their normal blue again. I’d gotten used to their dark, black hue over the last few weeks I’d almost forgotten they were normally the deep blue of sapphires. Now with two sins under our belt and a fresh thirty days on the countdown clock, Dante wasn’t wound quite so tight. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he continued, “In my case I wish my brothers would just stay down there.”

I laughed and shoved another handful of popcorn into my face. We’d managed to save Andy’s soul, but just barely. Still, a win was a win and since beggars couldn’t be choosy, I was definitely not going to spend my time dwelling on all of the things we could’ve done better. I for one was happy we’d all made it out of it with our skin intact.

Literally.  

I’d woken up in my room a little after three in the morning. Dante was there and filled me in on everything that happened after I’d passed out from Asher’s little tantrum. Dante’s younger brother hadn’t taken losing very well, but when he attempted to take my soul by force, he was stopped by the power of the very deal he’d struck. A force so strong it knocked me out cold.

And I wasn’t the only one. According to Dante, the entire town lost power.

Still, the important thing was Asher was incapable of collecting my or anyone else’s soul. Instead, he was forced to honor our deal and reset the clock for the next sin on the list.

And this time around we got to pick out which one to tackle next. 

Lust and Wrath were gone for the moment, not destroyed as I'd initially thought after Dante had blasted them into smithereens. Knowing Lust was still alive secretly made me happy. I couldn't help but like her - even just a little bit. She was a pain in the neck for sure, but she wasn't without her own special brand of charm. She showed me it was okay to connect with people, to let them in and want them to do the same. Without her stuck in my head, I probably never would've learned how to train both my mind and my body. Still, I was happy she was stuck in Hell so I wouldn't have to worry too much about her or Wrath getting in our way. 

Again. 

There was no telling what lay ahead for us over the next four weeks, and there were still plenty of things we needed to get lined out. Dante was still trying to find out who sent the Arkaanen demons after us, Sheriff Sutter would only be distracted by his son’s miraculous return for so long, and we still had the magic in the town to reinforce. I was pretty sure more people were going to find their way to the Emporium, asking questions I had no way of answering. The most worrisome of which being the ones having to do with Aunt Celeste’s current whereabouts.

And all of this was besides the normal everyday worries of my life.

Chase, one of the aforementioned worries, would be spending a lot of time with Andy, helping her through the nightmare of her last few weeks while checking in on Pete and Caroline, making sure they were back to normal. I didn’t remember any of it as I was still pretty out of it when he’d told me. It was probably for the best, though Dante said Chased had promised to keep us posted through hundreds of text messages over the next few days.