The Seven Deadly Sinners

18

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked, anxiously gripping the steering wheel of my car.

"Oh, no. Absolutely not. You guys are actually both doing something very right. Or not right, I guess, but it's an extremely good thing this is happening. But we didn't know it'd happen so strong or so soon. We had no idea it'd be as dangerous as it seems to be, but the ritual will fix everything," said Kat. I stopped at a stoplight, staring at Colby's red car in front of me. We were going back to the Traphouse, but Sam and Kat made Colby and I take separate cars. They still didn't want to tell me what happened in case revealing that information made it happen all over again.

We pulled up to the Traphouse and Colby rushed inside before the rest of us had even gotten out of the cars. It bothered me a lot that he didn't want to, couldn't be, around me. Bothered me a lot more than it should have, actually. Kevin wasn't kidding about that mark beginning the fusing of our souls or whatever. We even hadn't so much as touched each other except for when we got the marking and when he led me downstairs to see everyone. It felt like I had known Colby for years and we'd just admitted we had a crush on each other or something.

I made my way inside, trying to hide the fact that I was trying to move quickly to go see Colby. I hadn't seen his face or spoken to him since he'd walked out earlier. I wanted to tell him it was okay and that I wasn't upset with him because I had a feeling that he felt guilty about it.

I was inside just a few seconds after he was, but he'd already disappeared into the house somewhere. I let out a disappointed sigh and Kat and Sam came up behind me.

"You'll be able to talk to him, soon," Kat said.

"We can't even look at each other?" I asked, starting to get annoyed that they wouldn't just tell me already. I just felt a strong need to see Colby, I didn't even care if doing so would kill me. I didn't like being so needy and dependent on someone, but I couldn't help it.

"Jupiter, we're in here," I heard Dev yell. I walked into the kitchen to see everyone nervously scattered around, leaning or sitting on the counters. They were all fidgeting in some sort of way, obviously anxious for this ritual. Except for Colby, who wasn't in the kitchen.

"Okay, well, let's do it," I said impatiently. Was I going to feel this weird every time I wasn't in the same room as Colby? I certainly hoped not.

"Okay, let me explain it to you," Mike said.

"Do I need to know for it to work or can you just do your thing?" I asked.

"What is her problem?" Brennen asked, looking at Sam and Kat.

"They, uh... the chest pain," Sam said, clearing his throat.

"What about it?" asked Brennen.

"It's stronger. Way stronger. Colby couldn't even stay standing up straight and Jupiter stopped breathing. And then obviously it got worse when Colby tried to help her, so he had to leave the room and they haven't talked since she got it really bad, so...," Sam trailed off.

"Cravings are batshit right now, so let's do this before she dies from that or the pain," Kat said.

"Okay, yeah," Mike said. "Well, where's your mark, Jupiter?"

"On my back," I said.

"Can someone get her a sports bra and pants please, then?" Mike asked, staring down at my romper.

"I got it," Dev said, running upstairs.

"Alright, let's get this started," Mike sighed. "Sam, Kat, you guys first. We move from the inside to the out,"

Sam and Kat stepped up and held out their arms, revealing the two and a half sides of a pentagon they each had engraved inside the crooks of their elbows. I remembered that Colby had said they planned out where to put the marks and probably tried to choose somewhat discreet places.

Mike picked up a candle, a white thin stick one with no holder or wick or glass on it.

"Leviathan, would you mind?" Mike asked. Kat squinted at the candle and it started to slowly melt, dripping wax. He held Kat's arm out and let wax drip onto her mark. She grimaced from the slight pain that came from hot wax.

"In case you haven't figured it out, I'm Aria. I'm the god of curses," Mike said, dripping the wax onto Sam. "Let it cool and then Charon will wipe off the excess. We only want wax inside of the indentation," Mike said. He did it to Jake and Tara next, then Dev and Corey. Brennen carefully wiped and peeled the wax away once it dried, leaving their marks full of wax.

"Lilith, go change into the clothes Dev brought down," said Mike.

"Jupiter. That's you. You're Lilith," Brennen said. "We have to use the demon names for this."

"Oh! Right," I said, unaware that Mike had been talking to me. I walked over to where Dev had set a sports bra and some spandex on the counter for me.

"Bathroom's right around the corner," said Brennen, pointing to the hallway. "Don't come out until we say." I went over to the bathroom and started changing my clothes.

"Satan!" Mike yelled, calling him downstairs. I think only the seven, or maybe the eight, could do the summoning thing.

I heard Colby's footsteps move into the kitchen and it took every ounce of self control I had to not run out of the bathroom and go see him.

"Lilith," Brennen said loudly from the kitchen.

I walked back over to Mike, Colby nowhere in sight. Mike had a red candle now, and he turned me around and had me lean my elbows on the counter so he could drip it into the mark on my back.

"Couldn't have chosen a better place, buddy?" Mike grumbled.

"I told you I didn't know!" Colby said, his voice coming from the living room on the other side of the kitchen wall. My heart rate sped up when I heard his voice.

"Shut the fuck up, Satan. Lilith, if your chest starts to hurt at any point during this like it did earlier, you shut your eyes and plug your ears and tell us, okay?" Mike said.

"Okay," I agreed. I felt the hot wax drip into the divot on my skin, lightly clenching my jaw from the heat.

"I'm going to tell you how this next part works while we let this dry. Some weird shit is going to happen. I'm going to turn off the lights. Things will glow and lights will appear. Those lights will be moving toward you. I promise nothing will injure you. It might hurt a little or feel uncomfortable, but you'll be just fine. Now, if you could get a new tattoo, where would that be?" said Mike. Brennen wiped the wax off of my back.

"Huh?" I asked.