A Deal With the Devil

Chapter 38

Ravanna's POV

I cannot tell whether it had been hours or mere minutes since I have heard the begging of my sisters voice.

I'm still standing in the doorway of the room, frozen. If I take a step forward, my legs might give out from underneath me. It feels as if the grief itself will drag me down, like an anchor tied to my neck.

I try to focus my eyes on Kassandra, whose movement is still and her breathing irregular.

Right now, I wish that her eyes were open. I want something to focus my attention on, something other than my dead sisters voice.

"Leave us," I whisper.

Pride and Envy both look at each other before standing and slipping passed me out the door.

I still haven't moved and I hear a particularly loud scream, a scream for me.

I take a slow shaky step forward, carefully closing the door behind me as to help block out the sound.

I lean against it for a moment and take a deep breath before I turn around and move towards Kassandra.

I take slow, shaking steps forward and each one is more difficult than the last, each time it gets harder to hold myself up.

I finally collapse at Kassandra's side, falling to my knees. I hunch over, as if I'm trying to keep my love from seeing my expression filled face.

I try to keep the sounds in as thick hot tears travel down my face onto my pant legs. Each breath gets harder to keep in and the next gasp is much louder than the last.

The voice of my sister gets more violent as her screams grow until I'm covering my sensitive ears.

I feel like Kassandra had when she was fighting off invisible enemies within the school hallway, curling in on herself as a way to prevent whatever evil that attacked her.

All I want is to be in her arms, to feel her pull me towards her.

I want all this to stop.

I want her to wake up.

The voice has gotten so loud that no amount of anything will be able to keep me from hearing it. It sounds as if she was in the same room, screaming her wishes into my ear with such shrill behavior I cannot focus on the love of mine that lays in front of me.

"All you have to do is open the door."

"Please, little Anna open the door for me, that's all they want."

She was whispering now.

A very big contrast to just a few moments ago but its somehow worse.

"You know I cannot Nadia."

There are echoes of her whispers within my mind and they somehow layer over one another, making it impossible for me to distinguish what they say.

I close my eyes and extend my hand to reach out to hold Kassandra's. I hold it with both of mine and lay a kiss upon her knuckles.

"You would have loved Nadia." My voice cracks when saying her name, "She was constantly searching for an adventure and her laugh was always contagious."

"I don't think I have ever told you about Nadia, have I?" I whisper to her.

"She was my sister, while she had been younger than me, she always insisted on calling me little Anna." I pause for a moment and wonder how to continue and let out a stuttered breath as I recall her, "Her personality was so utterly joyous, she could make a friend out of a neighboring village if you gave her enough time," I wetly laugh.

I sniffle, "She always wanted to do things that weren't quite becoming of a girl during that time, she was well beyond her years."

I pause only for a moment before whispering, "I think she would have been incredibly happy, were she able to live in this modern world."

I finally open my eyes and find that Kassandra had stopped breathing irregularly but her skin tone had gotten more pale.

"What are you experiencing, my love?"

Her skin turned cold and I hurried to grab a nearby blanket and positioned myself so that I was again in between her and the couch. I laid the blanket over us and prayed to Judas that this transformation would be over soon.

As I was about to say something, the screams become louder than before and I grunt from the pain.

And suddenly, it stops.

Just stops.

I look around and wonder whether I should get up or not to check on the others. But I don't have to as Lust comes through the door.

She stands there taking in my position and softly smiles.

She meets my eyes and her smile drops, "I don't know why they've stopped but it can't be good."

I nod and gather my words before I speak, "What will they do if they can't get us to open the door?"

I am surprised as Lust wears a lost expression, "I don't know."

Suddenly there are loud violent knocks on the door again.

I quickly call for Pride and Envy while I remove myself from Kassandra's side.

She is still cold and as they get here, I ask "Can you both keep her warm, her body temperature is dropping."

They move her almost as gently as I would have to sit Kassandra up so that they may sit on either side of her, wrapping the blanket more securely around her frame.

The knocking still continues, harder and more angered than before. I hurry out of the room with Lust by my side.

Sloth and Wrath are standing by the door, as if getting ready to face anything if it was broken down.

Gluttony and Greed are standing on separate side of the chapel, keeping eyes on the angels that surround us.

The knocking has gotten more ferocious and violent until, just like the voice of my sister, it stopped.

"Well," the same voice as before says, "now that I have your attention and since my brethren and I cannot enter your sacred place, why don't I introduce a .... friend of the dear mutt that you are protecting, hm? I am quite sure she's been missing him."

The chilling voice stops speaking and its presence leaves, the door is suddenly starting to open.

I quickly turn to Lust, "I thought you said that they cannot enter here."

She looked quite fearful as the body stepped through the door and I gasped as well.

"They cannot, humans on the other hand.... can."

We all look at the person that stands before us, with eyes glowing white and their human flesh steaming, as it looks from the inside.

"Hello Ravanna," he spoke, "I think it's high time we got acquainted with each other, no?"

It seemed as if an angel was using this human as a vessel to enter, his consciousness trapped.

Kassandra's father.

I know that Kassandra's father was not truly present, but after seeing everything that has happened to her at his hands, I wanted to make him suffer.

Suffers for what he did to Kassandra.

This time, I will protect her from the evil that has forever plagued her.

This time, I shall succeed.

And with that, I lunge.