Bad Company (Seven Deadly Sins #1) ✅ Completed

Chapter Seven: A Complete Set

“You still owe me two, Celeste. Or have you forgotten?”

The figure stood inside her apartment. As usual, he’d appeared in a black cloud of smoke and sulfur. How she hated the smell of him. Even long after he’d gone, she would be able to smell his presence like the foulest rotten eggs in creation.

“No, I ain’t forgotten, Asher. I can count as well as you can,” Celeste bristled. She knew what she owed him. It wasn’t like she was bound to forget. Not if she wanted to see another year above ground and out of a place that made her worst nightmare look like Disneyland.

“Excellent. Then there’s no need for me to waste my time reminding you of your obligation to me.” Asher glided across the floor, staining her light carpet with an oily black residue.

Celeste grit her teeth. He did that crap on purpose. He loved to glide across her floor until it looked like rubber marks had been scorched right into it. Now he made his way to her kitchen window, taking a moment to peer outside. That particular window looked out onto the west side of the street. Celeste knew her niece was out there working on breaking apart that hornet’s nest she’d been too clumsy to avoid a few days ago. That girl was almost as bad as her mother.

Almost.

If she had half the luck God gave a dog she’d stay out of Asher’s line out sight. “Don’t worry. I’ll get ‘em sold.”  She answered, trying to get him to leave as quickly as possible. Each visit made her more and more likely to suffer from cardiac arrest, and nothing would make the demon happier. She wouldn't be able to fulfill her end of their contract because she’d be laid up in some hospital like an invalid, and then he’d come for her as quick as you please.  

Asher never looked away from the window. “You better. You know I cannot take them until the set is complete.”

Seven souls.

Every single one stained by the taint of mortal sin. Each soul under the age of twenty as per their agreement. Souls of children, most just a year or two older than her own niece. It didn’t matter now. They were dead all the same, booked on a one-way passage to Hell. The place Asher called home. Five waiting, two still needed.  

“I’m aware. This ain’t my first rodeo.” She tried hard to insert some level of patience in her voice, but she was too old. She was hateful and ornery, and nothing could change that now. Still, this wasn’t some telemarketer or the local food bank woman, this was Asher. She had to be careful.

“No, but I sense some hesitation in you, Celeste.” He turned to look back at her, “You used to be so eager to fulfill our annual contract – all seven souls gift wrapped before the winter equinox. Now, here we are, close to the summer solstice deadline and you test the limits of my patience. Are you so willing to break our bargain now?”

“Course not,” she snapped, all intentions of remaining calm gone. Only the gleam of Asher’s eyes was visible under the dark cowl of his hood. It was the red of spilled blood, of brutal violence, of the place that birthed such an evil creature.

Thankfully, it was only his eyes she saw. She couldn’t even make out so much as the tip of his nose, if he even had one. In all the decades she’d worked for Asher, she’d never once wanted to get close enough to find out. She shut her mouth now good and tight. It was known to write checks her butt couldn’t cash so she wasn’t about to risk such a thing with him. Today he was just her boss, but one day he’d be her warden and then she’d pay dearly for any disrespect she showed him in the past.   

“Pride, envy, sloth, avarice, and gluttony,” he ticked off each sin one at a time, “so you still owe me wrath and lust.” He turned back to the window and looked out on the scene. There was a young woman struggling to unwind a weathered garden hose. She was plain but the light from her soul was anything but.

 “What do we have here?” he murmured softly. The shadows in the room began to move excitedly, as if affected by the interest Asher showed in whatever had caught his attention.  

Celeste didn’t have to look out the window to know he’d spotted Eliza. Good grief the girl had the luck of her mother. She hadn’t cleared keeping Eliza with Asher first, but the time for asking permission was long gone. All she could do now was beg forgiveness – though she’d never been very good at that either. “My great niece, Eliza,” she answered flatly.

“Is she one of yours then?”

Celeste knew what Asher meant. But Eliza wasn’t a work in progress. Not yet anyway. “No. She’s just working for me here at the store. I needed more help and she’s family so I don’t gotta pay her as much as if I hired someone who wasn’t.” She sniffed.

Asher studied her. Her soul was pure, not even the barest hint of taint. She would be an unlikely candidate for either sin Celeste had remaining. Still, perhaps another could be influenced. Not wrath. As recently as she’d arrived she wouldn’t have the opportunity to incur that sort of mortal target, but perhaps the other was still a viable option. Afterall, lust was one of his favorite sins. It was second only to pride, the mortal sin whence all other sins derived.

His eyes narrowed as he watched her. “She looks familiar.”

Celeste said nothing. She didn’t dare breathe now.

Asher’s red eyes gleamed now. “Her mother…she stayed with you once as well.” It wasn’t a question.

Celeste closed her eyes. Asher never forgot a tainted soul. Not one. And beneath his hood Asher smiled, though Celeste was lucky enough to be saved that horror. 

Perhaps he was mistaken. He was not omniscient. Given her lineage the girl could absolutely be tainted. Such a pure soul converted to sin would make a fine addition to the others. As he watched a large vehicle pulled up to the sidewalk. Several teenagers climbed out of it. The first, a handsome youth, made a beeline right for Celeste’s niece. 

Asher’s eyes gleamed brighter. Oh yes. He would have his completed set before his deadline.

And his lord would be well pleased indeed. 

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*A/N: Image Credit - Hooded Figure (Asher Inspiration).

Song Selection: Crawling- Linkin Park