Deadly Sins | Monsta X

Part 1: Time's up

A smoll first chapter. Enjoy 🖤

*~*

Part 1: Time's up

With a hitching breath, Anya closes the door behind her and leans against it. For a long moment, her heavy breathing echoes through the hallway and her entire body shakes with fear.

For nine years and eight months, she pretended all of this was just a bad joke. She was hoping that—whatever happened that night at the crossroad was just some kind of lucid dream. A hallucination.

Even after Henry recovered, she still was too scared to face the truth. Made herself believe it was a coincidence. She pushed it away... denied all of it, pretended it wasn't real.

Until a noise ripped her out of her sleep four months ago. It was a growl, like a snarling animal, a barely audible howling coming from far away.

From the moment she heard the noises she knew who they belonged to: Hellhounds. The creatures you hear when your time is slowly running out.

Ever since then her life has felt like a nightmare. She tried to run away until she realized there was no escape. Tried to find a way out of it even though she knew there was none. No matter how far she fled, the faint howling followed her, and it only grew louder every night.

In the beginning, Anya heard the hellhounds only after dawn. But for a few days now she's been hearing them in the daylight, feeling them following her. And it's slowly but surely driving her insane.

Today is the day. Today, ten years ago, she made the deal.

Her time is up...

Anya actually planned to spend the night with her family. Somewhere safe. But she can't risk them getting hurt, or worse, when she's the one he's coming for.

Still shaking, she turns on the lights in her huge apartment and walks into the kitchen. The silence in here almost numbs her, and at the same time every sudden sound, every crack, every whistle of the wind makes her flinch.

"Get your shit together, Anya!" she mumbles after checking the windows again.

The salt is still there. Salt, which supposedly repels supernatural creatures. But she has no idea if it really works...

Sunk in her thoughts, she prepares a cup of tea when she suddenly sees a shadow from the corner of her eye.

Gasping, she turns around and her back collides with the fridge. With a racing heart, her gaze wanders about the room.

Anya's senses are on high alert as she grabs the kitchen knife from the block next to her. The demon-slaying weapon her friend gave her ten years ago is somewhere deeply buried in her office desk and as she walks into the living room she hates herself for not looking for it sooner.

Suddenly this feeling returns, this dark, cold feeling, and she holds her breath. It's the same feeling she had when he showed up at the crossroad. Terrified, she turns and looks straight into crimson eyes that burn right through her.

A sharp scream escapes her throat and she instinctively rams the knife into his chest.
Whimpering, she runs into her office, closes and locks the door behind her.

"It's funny..." The voice makes her scream again and she spins around, sees him sitting in her chair, his crossed legs propped on the desk and a huge smirk on his face.

To Anya's pure horror, the knife she just attacked him with is still sticking out of his chest, layers of maroon soaking his white shirt.

Gasping, she takes a step back and her body hits the closed door.

Fuck!

"Why do people like you always think they can escape me? And I really take it personally that you stabbed me! That hurt!"

Slowly, he grabs the knife and pulls it out with a soft groan. Blood splatters on her desk as he throws the dripping blade onto it.

For a moment he pouts while stroking his chest, before he smirks at her again.

Unable to control her heavy breaths, she stares at him.

"Hey, babygirl!" he says and gets up while slowly walking around the desk. "Miss me?"

It's weird. It's been ten years since they met at the crossroad. Ten years is a long time, especially considering how young Anya was and how much has happened since then. But looking at him now, she suddenly realizes that in the past years, it almost felt like he'd been there... all the time.
She can't quite say when it started but he'd suddenly begun showing up in her dreams. She saw his face in crowds, heard his voice calling her name. Somehow she just didn't recognize him when it happened, cause she was so deep in denial. But now his presence almost feels familiar. As if she is meeting an old friend...

"Please!" she whispers. "Please, Kyun, I need a little more time—"

"For what?" Chuckling, he shakes his head and looks around in the room. "Gosh, girl, you made it, didn't you? Your face is on every damn poster, your music videos have hundreds of millions of views, you make a shitload of money! Usually, I'm responsible for this but you... you did all of this on your own! You used your time well!"

He looks over his shoulder at her while flicking through a book from her library. "I'm impressed!"

"But.. but I ... I mean the deal... I couldn't..."

Growling, he throws his head back, puts the book back into the shelf and walks up to her.

"I told you he'd leave you, didn't I?"

Sheepishly, she nods. "Turned out he only dated me so my parents would pay the hospital bills..."

She has no idea why she's telling him this. Probably because she's hoping he might pity her—and change his mind...

"Oh, ouch!" He grimaces and sighs. "Yeah, well, I'm sorry, babygirl, but the deal wasn't that you'd live with him happily ever after. You wanted me to heal him, which I did. And I told you how stupid it was, didn't I? I warned you! That's the reason I don't make deals with teenagers, cause I always end up having these kinds of arguments with them... it's time for you to pay your debt!"

"Please don't!" Anya begins to beg while tears run down her cheeks. "Please. I'll do anything! Anything to get out of this! I'm just—"

"Do you really think begging is going to help you?" He scoffs and chuckles again. "Sorry, babygirl... This isn't how it works. Especially since everyone down there got so damn thrilled when they learned that you'll be coming..."

Confused, Anya tilts her head. "What?"

"Yes? Just because we're demons doesn't mean we don't enjoy music."

Smirking, he pulls out his phone and taps on it a few times.

"Look!" he squeals, playfully excited, turns the phone and points at her album cover in his music library. "It's you! And I must say, I am so flattered that you even wrote a few songs about me! At night when I walk home alone, I feel the crimson eyes following me... awesome. And 'Dancing With The Devil'? I mean—" He chuckles. "I'm not exactly the devil but I'm still flattered!"

"I don't wanna die..." Anya whispers.

She can't process that she's having yet another fanboy interaction, but this time with the demon who is harvesting her soul—she can't focus on anything besides the "harvesting her soul" part.

Sighing, he puts his phone back in his pocket and looks at her. "First of all, you won't die, okay? What I'm about to do to you is far worse... you'll wish I'd killed you. And second: Babygirl, you knew the deal. I really am in no mood for this game. So!"

Before she can say another word or even think about escaping, she suddenly feels his hand on her stomach, right under her ribcage. Then his hand is pushing through her skin, and an unbearable pain rushes through her body. It feels like liquid acid is being pumped through her veins.

Her bloodcurdling screams fill the air as she watches the demon's fingers on her stomach moving, and then suddenly they emerge from her torso, ripping out a shimmering ball of white vapor.

And all at once the intense pain stops.