“Barron,” she called to him, all the while still taking out imps. There weren’t many left. Most were in the sky and Payne was shooting them down. I morphed my weapon into a thick black chain and sent it into the air, slicing into them. They squawked, and the entire cave was painted in their green blood.
In the distance, the children whimpered, some huddled together in a cage while others were chained up. They were safe now that we were here, and I could focus on Barron who we needed to get under control.
“Don’t fucking rage,” she told him. “We have to get these kids out of here.”
While Payne shot down the last of them, I hurried toward Barron and Maureen. Barron didn’t have any thoughts, he didn’t even have a consciousness when he raged, which meant the children were in danger if we didn’t get him under control.
“Barron!” I yelled, and he snapped his head around to me. His eyes were already blackened. “Whoa, don’t give me that look. I’m your brother.”
“I don’t think talking is gonna work this time,” Maureen told me. “Seeing all these dead children has darkened all of our moods, especially Barron’s.”
I knew she was right.
I slung my chain out to the side. “Guess it’s restraining him.” Cocking my head to the side, I asked. “Did you bring the syringe?”
Maureen took a deep breath and morphed her sword into a chain like mine. “You two and August are gonna be the death of me.” She made us sound like a handful.
I wanted to chuckle but then something worse happened. The wave of exhaustion slid over me, blanketing my body, invading my mind. I staggered to my right.
“Um, Maureen…might need to find a bed too while you’re at it.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “Oh, no, no, no,” she shouted at me.
I slumped forward, heading face first into the dirt just as I saw Barron charging at me with murder in his eyes.
“Payne!” Maureen screamed. “Reaper down! Reaper down! And Barron’s—”
Four
Payne
“Payne!” Maureen screamed. “Reaper down! Reaper down! And Barron’s looking at him like he’s about to skewer him!”
She didn’t have to yell when I was already witnessing what she saw and in motion to get to them. “I’ll get Barron,” I told her, and she nodded as she took off running.
Barron grabbed Sebastian’s body and lifted him over his head before he could fall to the ground. “Fucking hell,” I muttered. I was dealing with a sleeping beauty and a raging loon. Really though, why did I think it was a good idea to bring these two along?
“Don’t bend him that way,” Maureen said to Barron as if he could reason in this state. He was bending Sebastian in half over his head. Before he could break his own brother’s back, I charged into him and collided with him on the ground. I heard Maureen huff, so she must have scuffled around to catch her brother. He was too big to catch, though, which explained the huge thud and the groan that came from her lips behind me.
“Are you okay?” I somehow managed to ask while Barron roared in my ear.
“I can handle myself,” she told me.
I didn’t get to respond. Barron threw me off him with that damn scary strength of his. He was strong, but his strength was amplified when his sin was working on him. He also seemed quicker. “Do you have the syringe?” she asked me.
“Like I’d leave the house without it knowing he was coming with us.” I got to my feet and shuffled around in circles as he stalked me. “The problem is getting close enough to use it on him.”
“Better hurry,” she whispered behind me. “He’s starting to lose his flesh.” I looked at his hands and saw she was right. His raging red essence swirled around his boned fingers. It was now or never. Soon he’d have neither flesh nor muscle and we’d be seriously fucked with no way to handle him.
All three Reaper brothers could turn into a skeleton like their father, the Grim Reaper, but it was worse when Barron skeletonized during a rage. He made you want to run the other way.
“Toss it to me,” Maureen said, jumping beside me. “You hold him, and I’ll use it.” I yanked it from my pocket and tossed it to her. The only way to do this was to just charge head first, and that was what I did. I dodged his arms as he moved to grab me and slung my own around his waist. He didn’t even move this time when I tried to knock him to the ground. His arms came around and started squeezing the life out of me.
“Might…want to…use it now,” I breathed out.
She came up behind him and pressed the needle into his neck, shooting the liquid into his system. Immediately, he lost his grip and stumbled back before dropping to his knees. He grabbed his forehead as his eyes returned to their normal shade of brown. He looked up at me and muttered, “Fuck,” before he face-planted into the dirt.
I grabbed the back of my head and sighed. “You Reapers are a pain in the ass.”
Maureen only smiled as we bent down and flipped him over. It was moments like this, watching these siblings deal with their curses, that made me realize not knowing what kind of demon I was wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
“Call August. I won’t be able to carry them both back.” She snorted, so I added, “He can step away from his harem for a couple hours.” Greedy bastard. I knew each of them had their own demon to deal with, but August was a downright crook. Okay, that wasn’t entirely true, he was just manipulative and knew how to get whatever he wanted. Yeah, never mind, I stood by what I first said.
“Do I detect a hint of jealousy?” she asked lifting her eyebrows.
I stood and turned toward the children. “Sleeping with one woman is a headache in itself, I don’t see why anyone would want a harem of them.”
“You know, it’s not his fault,” she whispered quickly, slightly offended.
“I know.” I turned and gave her a small smile. “Still an asshole,” I muttered, and she laughed.
“Well, I’m pretty sure you are too.” Her laugh faded as we walked toward the children. “They’re terrified.”
“Of course, they are. They’ve been watching other children die.” I stopped a moment and studied the ghost children and the ones that were already poltergeists. Shit. That was the worst part. We wouldn’t be able to ascend the new poltergeists. Their fear, hatred, or maybe it was their confusion and unfairness they felt that festered and turned them, but it was too late to save them. The Devil owned them. And that was shitty altogether. It wasn’t their fault they were stolen from their homes and brought here.
“I sent August a text,” Maureen said, moving closer to the children. “It’s okay, we aren’t going to hurt you guys. We’re gonna get you home.”
“Can I go back to my mom now?” one of them asked, and I turned to see that the little girl was a ghost. “I want to go home.” She tugged at her dark strands.
Maureen bent down. I watched as she swallowed her emotions and gave the child a small smile. “Hmm, I think you’re gonna get to go somewhere different. Someplace that’s always fun and bright, never dark,” she tried to laugh it off but she sounded hoarse, “or so I think.”
The child started whimpering. “I want my mommy.” I looked away at that point.
“You can get the poltergeists, right? I’ll take care of these.” Her voice cracked. She didn’t want to be the bad guy and send the kids to the Devil.
I didn’t answer. Instead, I turned toward the black masses covering the ones that were, and they started screaming at me in a shrilly voice because they knew I was coming for them. They transitioned into something matching their hatred—something pure evil. I opened the passage to the fiery pit and got to work.
_____
“Can you tell us what they were doing to you guys?” Maureen asked each child that was still alive.
After she ascended the ghosts, and I descended the poltergeists, all that was left was to figure out what was happening here and get these kids home. We’d have to erase the human children’s memory, but the demon ones alread
y knew because this was their world.
“This big man would c-c-come. He ordered the tiny creatures w-w-who brought us here and the ones k-k-killing us.” the boy stammered. He was doing his best to tell us what we needed.
“It’s okay, we’re taking you home. He can’t hurt you now…. Do you know what they wanted with all of you?” Maureen asked slowly.
“They were feeding the man with the flaming red hair,” a little girl chimed in.
“Flaming red…” Maureen looked to me, then to the little girl. “Feeding him what?” I knew there wasn’t going to be an answer we liked when she asked that question.
I waited for the little girl to answer. “Our hearts,” she voiced with a look so bone-deep and honest that she shuddered at her own words. “The man was eating our hearts.”
I thought my jaw might break with how hard I clenched my teeth together. Maureen looked just as consumed with her own anger.
“There was something else,” the boy added like he was seeing the girl’s bravery and wanting to do the same. “I saw you talking to someone I couldn’t see. Was it the ones that were killed?” Smart for a little kid. Maureen nodded, and he continued, “They kept saying something about using the ghost children. I don’t know what they meant.”
“I’m here,” August appeared at the other end of the cave. “I gotta get a picture of this,” he went on talking to himself as I heard the snapping of his phone’s camera. He had to be taking pictures of his brothers. I turned around and glared at him. His eyes met mine then fell on all the children. “What the… What happened?”
Maureen scowled at August before gazing back at the boy. “Do you remember what the man looked like?”
“Any distinctive features?” I added.
“His hair was really red, like flames,” the same little girl added.
Another boy jumped in. “I saw him as a woman!”
“Me too,” another piped in.
I turned and made eye contact with Maureen and August, who stood near us watching. “Are you sure it wasn’t just a different person?” Maureen asked.
“No!” the boy yelled. “I watched him change faces!”
That put one person in my mind. From the slants in Maureen and August’s eyebrows, I had a feeling they were thinking the same person I was.
Of course, there were a lot of demons that could change forms. Take witches and warlocks, or shapeshifters… But I could picture only one being in my head as we erased the children’s memories one by one.
He reigned these depths. He controlled everything in the darkness.
Yeah, I was talking about the same person that cursed the Reaper’s, and my dad’s creator.
The Devil.
Five
Sebastian
Waking up after falling to my curse was a bitch. There was no other word for it. It was brutal, and it sucked.
More like it sucked the life out of me because waking up was fighting to open my eyes. It was fighting an invisible battle. Imagine how dying felt if you were bleeding out and slowly fading away, and everything was just a haze because nothing was hurting, but you had no strength to open your eyes. Or, the way humans fell asleep behind the wheel after working a double, they knew, and they told themselves to stay awake and keep their eyes open, but they just couldn’t. So, they ended up killing themselves or someone else because of it.
That was me. Only so much worse.
I was a true immortal. I’d experienced the pain of dying. More than once. Only I kept coming back to life. My family wasn’t like others. We lived and lived and lived. We could be killed, but we would get right back up after our body rejuvenated.
Vampires weren’t immortal. Sure, they could live forever, but they only got one death. One stab in the heart was all it took. They didn’t come back. So, no, they weren’t immortal. At least not like a true immortal.
Back to my point, I’d rather know death a hundred times over than have no control over my energy or my lack of it. I fell asleep wherever and whenever. The same thing for waking up.
That was one of the reasons I never slept when I was awake.
Even when I did start to rouse from my slumber, it took hours to actually wake up. A lot of times I was stuck hearing people talking around me until I could finally pry my eyes open, and even then, I had this bone-deep tiredness that would weigh on me, trying to coax me back into sleep.
I didn’t know how long I slept this time, but I recognized my old room when I finally opened my eyes. It was quiet, but there was a good chance I’d go downstairs, and someone would be there. If not my parents, at least Kitty.
Thinking of Kitty, I stumbled out of bed and decided I’d go in search of her in the one place I knew she’d be. She’d be able to tell me how long I’d been sleeping. Kitty was the only one that still lived with our parents although she was well over a hundred years old like the rest of us.
It could be a pain working for your parents in a Reaper business, but it wasn’t all bad. Our family was well known in the Underworld. Well hated by some. Well loved by the rest.
I was the oldest and could still remember life without the Sloth sin. An existence before the Devil cursed all of us as kids. All the energy I had. All the possibilities and fun was at my fingertips. I could still remember his heavy finger pressed on my forehead touching my soul. And I remembered falling to the ground and then…nothing.
I slept for six months when he first placed the curse on me. When I woke, my parents cried and held me then told me my fate along with the fates of my siblings.
Barron was angry, always angry, when he used to be a prankster full of smiles and life. He still had a sense of humor, but it rarely showed.
August was full of greed, who was once a pleasant and easygoing kid, couldn’t stand to share. He just wanted, wanted, wanted. Nothing pleased him. Nothing was ever enough.
Maureen was suddenly prideful, our eldest sister who once loved all of her siblings more than anything else was suddenly self-absorbed. Like Barron, it made her bitter; it made her angry, but it also made her cocky and tough.
Joy was envious of everyone and everything. It made her dark and gloomy, quiet and closed off. It made her green literally, but it didn’t take away her need to love.
Maybe Prudence’s curse was the worst because she was just a kid when her body started having sexual desires. We didn’t know what Prudence did, and we definitely weren’t ever going to ask her how she lived with the sin of lust. We just loved her and looked out for her like we all did each other.
Lastly, Kara who we called Kitty. She was our youngest sister. She couldn’t stop eating. She ate, and ate, and ate, but she was never full. As a kid, she slept on the floor of the kitchen that Mom would have to restock every morning because she would binge-eat all day and night. She’d sleep and eat, that was her life. And it still was.
Despite all that, we still lived. We still did Reaper work, even on the days our sins consumed us, we survived and persevered, and we sure the hell looked out for each other. Why?
Because our last name was fucking Reaper.
We didn’t play nice with the Devil. Ever.
Not that we always played nice with each other either, but we were family. We were bonded by blood as well as love, despite how corrupted each of us could be.
Even so, I’d been living with the sloth sin for over a century, and I knew my sin was getting worse. Passing out and staying asleep was happening more often. I was constantly tired, even getting lazier. I hadn’t told them yet, and I didn’t plan on it, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they realized themselves… because I thought there would come a time when I didn’t wake from the slumber the curse held me in.
I knew I was right to look in the kitchen for Kitty when I heard her loud snorts drifting from the doorway as I stepped into it. She was sitting on the counter eating a beef jerky and at least ten bags of empty chip bags were surrounding her on the floor. She lifted her eyes from the phone and met my eyes. “You’re aw
ake,” she chirped, glancing back down at the phone and giggling at whatever video she was watching.
“How long did I sleep this time?” I asked her, rubbing my eyes as I leaned on the counter she sat on.
“Not too bad this time, only two days.”
Sadly, she was right. Two days wasn’t bad, but the fact that I was losing my life to sleep didn’t get any less shitty.
I was exhausted still, and I didn’t think it was going away. I still didn’t know what happened after I passed out either. “Where’s Grim?”
“He left with Mom earlier,” she replied.
I didn’t press her for anything else because although she was a Reaper like the rest of us; we wanted to keep her innocent, less corrupted than the rest of us. So, we often kept her in the dark about most things. The kidnapping that happened a decade ago still haunted us all. We thought we lost her. Only for us to show up where she was being held captive to see her on her knees surrounded by dead demon bodies. Death couldn’t take her from us, but enemies with enough power could hold any one of us captive if taken off guard.
“I’ll go look for him,” I told her, stepping away from the counter. “See ya, Kitty. Try not to drink all the milk.”
“No promises.”
_______
I wasn’t happy when I finally tracked everyone down and found out everything they knew about the cave incident. We weren’t dealing with normal imp behavior. We were dealing with someone with an agenda, and in the Underworld, that could be anyone. Depending on who it was could mean all sorts of different things.
Like Reaper work wasn’t enough work as it was.
And like a sloth didn’t sleep.
Speaking of which, I needed a recharge. The demon in the city stole what I had gotten from Isabella so I didn’t even get to appreciate it, and because of that, I had passed out on the job.
I wondered what my friend was doing? Two days asleep in the Underworld wasn’t any time at all in the human one. I thought of her name and an image of where she was floated in my head.
Bewitching Sloth Page 3
