The Eighth

The Visitation

Six more figures materialized from the black substance the glass spheres had released, each one more different than the next. "P-p-please don't hurt me..." I pleaded as all my limbs became stiff with fear. I heard the crackling of glass underfoot as someone stepped towards her. I pulled myself along the floor with my hands, backing away from the sound. As my hand connected with the ground, something stabbed into my palm, releasing the scream caught in my throat. I jerked my hand back and nursed the injury as blood trickled from my new wound. I tried to pull at the piece of glass now imbedded in the base of my palm, but I winced with pain as the shard tugged at the pierced flesh of my hand.

A smooth voice answered from the direction I'd shied away from. "I don't mean to hurt you." The words drew my eyes to look up into the boys face. He seemed younger than most the others surrounding her in the attic - closer to my own age even. He kneeled down in front of me, his dark blue eyes connecting with my green ones. I was astonished, he seemed so human. The regular life was behind this boys pupils, just like any other person even though I had just watched him form from some black stuff in a glass sphere. He was a handsome man. His dirty blond hair slightly hung in his eyes which just drew more attention to their rich blue hue. He reached his hand towards me in a helpful sort of way, but despite his good looks I was still wary. I shied away but he grabbed my hand gingerly. The sheer gentleness in the gesture kept me from pulling away.

"Who are you? Who are all of you?" I said, a slight shiver still in my voice.

"Well for starters, I'm lust, but you can call me Leo." The handsome boy said, while studying the deep cut in my hand. I looked at him inquisitively. Lust? Interrupting my train of thought, Leo continued. "You might want to hold on to something for a second, this is going to hurt." He grabbed my other hand and placed it on his shoulder. Suddenly, he tugged at the glass imbedded in my hand and I screamed. I clamped my hand down hard into his shoulder, my fingers pressing into the toned flesh and reaching the hard bone. After a moment the pain was over. Sure, it stung a little but the glass was finally out. My eyes glanced along his face, not detecting even a flinch as my hand released its grip. 

On my other side, a man was smiling. He had a gruff appearance. His hair was dark and shaggy which complemented the five o'clock shadow look he was pulling off.

"Just what are you smiling about, wrath? The girl is hurt."

"Exactly, Leo. I think you're forgetting the sin I was named after." The man laughed. The chuckle was harsh, no sense of actual humor. It seemed it was only used to punctuate his sentence in his own twisted sort of way.

"Can we just get out of here?" The next man said, his voice carrying with it a sense of priority. "I don't know how long Damon kept us locked up in here but we need to find out. I guess it's your lucky day." The man looked straight at me. "What do you want girl? You carelessly let us out of our prisons, so we might as well lend you a favor as a way of saying thanks. I'm Pride. So what do you say? You want something?" He said leaning towards me.

I was in shock. This was totally abnormal. It should be a dream but the pain in my hand was all too real. I studied the room around me in the dim attic. Light was filtering through a small window to my right but other then that it had no electrical lighting. I tried to look at each face individually and maybe get an idea of what the hell was going on.

There was lust and wrath, but then there was pride. He wore a black suit with a matching black tie and he seemed fully aware of the status he was showing. His salt-pepper hair and sharp features gave him a strict dad vibe, which was slightly odd to me but the fact was - the question was still in the air. What did I want?

"I don't want anything." I said determinedly - All I really wanted was my family but nobody could bring that back to me.

Pride paced around the small space, now packed with people, waiting for an answer, but stopped at a pile of boxes. He picked up the picture frame capturing the image of my mother and father from the stack. The longer he stared at it the more intense his expression became. Recognition was dawning on the mans face, but what could this strange man have to do with my parents?

"You're the child, aren't you?" Pride stated more than asked, interrupting my train of thought.

I was still confused with what was going on, but it had something to do with my parents so I was curious. I looked at Pride, one of the many new people I had just met - in my attic of all places - but this time the intense expression on his face became clear. It was filled with rage. "You should be dead. I surely thought someone would have taken care of her in our absence! It must have been that angel mother of yours who protected you or even your demon father." He growled.

"Calm down Pride. Think of it this way, we should have another girl on the team other than laziness over here. Plus, I rather like this one." Lust said smiling at me. He had a nice smile, I thought. I hadn't noticed the girl Lust had gestured to until that moment. She sat against the far wall with her eyes closed as if not listening until her name was mentioned. Her dark almost black hair was mid-length and her lips were a cherry red. She wore a leather jacket along with all black clothes and seemed as if her nature was almost nonchalant.

Pride was fuming from the comment. "You know what, let's just leave, talk with father and regroup, okay everyone? Meet me at the gate."

I could feel the reluctance in the room, but sure enough one by one they left the house and followed Pride to what I could only assume was, "The Gate." The only one left now was Lust.

"Why didn't you leave with them?" I asked as Leo picked me up off the ground and led me down stairs.

"They're such a drag sometimes, but to be perfectly honest I don't know why, but I like you Hazel." He said with that charming smile again as he stepped down the last stair with me in tow. In some strange way he seemed to already know his way around the house and walked into the kitchen.

"Well, I'm still a bit confused..." I trailed off as he grabbed a towel and ripped a small length of it. Placing it in his mouth, he grabbed my waist and hoisted me onto the kitchen counter. He retrieved the strip and gently wrapped it around my palm, smiling down at his work. He almost seemed sweet, but the question still came to mind... "Why are you taking care of me?"

He looked up with those blue eyes, his hair falling into his face, "Because I want to, and I'm not sure why, but I'm drawn to you. It might have something to do with your lineage or it might not, but that doesn't change the fact that I like you." He shrugged. "And about that other stuff - we are known as the seven deadly sins. The gate we are supposed to meet at is in fact the gate of hell, but thinking back on all that, this whole situation is probably hard to process. You might as well get some sleep considering the stress you've just been through and I promise I'll explain more when you wake up."

The last thing I remembered was Lust (also known as Leo), one of the seven deadly sins, showing me to a room then letting me fall asleep in a warm comfy bed. Maybe it was just a dream after all...