The Seven Deadly Sinners

10

"Okay, okay, okay," Colby said to himself. He was pacing his room again, audibly talking to himself. "Just... find her. And just sit there. And maybe she'll say something first so you don't have to. Or maybe just sitting there will calm her down. Or maybe I should get one of the girls to do it. No, he said it should be me. Fuck. Why the hell am I freaking out? Why am I nervous? Since when does Satan get nervous? I can't do this. Shit," he said quietly. I felt almost guilty in a way for, like, intruding on his thoughts, but I didn't really feel like I was to blame for any of this.

"Sam," Colby said. I think that they could summon each other at will with just their names, because Tara and Sam could not have heard their names if they were just normal people. Sam knocked on the door a minute later and Colby let him in.

"What's up?" Sam asked.

"How did you do it? Knowing that you were greed and she was envy, that you were Mammon and she was Leviathan? Knowing that you were just going to fall in love and be together forever but still being able to just go for it?" Colby asked. Sam thought for a second.

"Why did you invite Jupiter to the party?" Sam eventually asked.

"Because there was just something about her. The vibe, the presence. The way she looked and moved and talked, the things she said, how her voice sounded, the tough façade she put up. And then I couldn't Urge her, which somehow made her even more captivating," Colby said.

"And why do you think she said yes to coming? I'm guessing the infamous Saturn doesn't just go out to a lot of random stranger's parties," Sam said.

"I... hm. I never thought of that. Oh shit, wait, can't humans see the Urge? They just ignore it since that's what draws them in in the first place?" asked Colby.

"Yup," Sam replied. "She knew you were something different. That you weren't another guy just hitting on her. She had to have known, whether subconsciously or with full awareness. She still said yes. And that was before either of you knew who the other actually was. You had that connection right off the bat. And that connection can only grow stronger," Sam said. "What did Belial say we had to do to bring her back into view?"

"Ugh, he said I have to find her and just talk to her. Have to lower her blood pressure and brain cell movement and shit," Colby groaned.

"Well, I'm guessing she's not on the main floor considering we've searched every inch, so we can all stay downstairs while you look for her upstairs. Just Summon if you need us," Sam replied.

"Alright. Thank you, brother," Colby said.

"Always," replied Sam, giving him a brief bro hug before leaving the room. Colby took a deep breath.

"Okay, where would I be. Away from the door because that's too obvious, but not far away from an exit just in case. So a window. By a window upstairs. One that leads out onto the roof where there would be enough space to walk around if need be. And by a window in a spot that no one will walk directly by in case they accidentally kick her since she can still be felt. But she wouldn't move something out of the way to hide behind in case we noticed anything out of place. But she would also want to go somewhere she's at least somewhat familiar with. Somewhere she can have easy access onto the roof, not have to move anything out of the way to fit in a place that is unlikely to be walked in. And she's sitting or kneeling because no one wants to squat or stand for three hours and laying down increases contact with the floor where someone could step on or kick her. Probably sitting, though, so she can maximize her airflow while breathing as quietly as possible," he said.

Holy shit. This guy was good. We had the same brain.

"Except you can't get to a walkable spot on the roof from Sam's window, Corey doesn't have a window, the entire wall by Jake's window is occupied by his bed that no one could fit under, and the office door is locked...," he trailed off. "Oh, fucking hell. Jupiter. You're in here. And you've heard literally everything. Fucking perfect. Perfect. Love this. So much."

I didn't know if I should speak up or not. I could wait till he left and go hide somewhere else. Pretend I didn't follow his exact same thought process.

He sat back down on the bed and put his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said after a few moments of silence. "I should have handled this very, very differently. I just didn't put two and two together that you'd seen my Urge in the salon... oh, the Urge is that thing we do with our eyes, by the way. But you've already figured that out, I bet. Each of the sins have a different color. Each a color of the rainbow. Except Tara, she's pink. You'll have one, too. It'll be all of our colors together. It's supposed to be the prettiest thing a demon will ever experience.

"Mike and Brennen are Hades' advisors. He sent them here to watch over the sins. We used to do Hades' dirty work up here until he discovered the lost legend of The Octet. For these past two hundred some years we've just been moving all around the world, meeting new people, throwing parties, hoping we'd somehow run into you. And now we have. Hades said he'd reveal the purpose of The Octet after we formed it. We've obviously got to do these rituals and teach you everything and let you teach us before you get to meet him. But we'll get there some day," Colby said.

"And yeah, your demon name is Lilith. Means 'night monster' I think. You're the most powerful female demon, you know that? And I'm the most powerful male demon. But you're more powerful than me. And Hades isn't a demon, he's a God, so we really are the top of the pack. Except you're used to that. To being in charge. I like that about you. You know exactly what you want and you know exactly how to get it. You're confident and sure of yourself. It's incredible to see," Colby said. I smiled, but he couldn't see it.

"You're actually in here, right? I'm not having a conversation with an empty room?" he asked.