Bad Influence (Seven Deadly Sins #2) ✅ Completed

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Poison Glass

Paralyzed by fear, I watched helplessly as Wrath slammed into Andy like a deadly missile hitting its target. The former beauty queen flew backwards several feet. The sin’s inky shadow oozed over her, covering her quickly her from head to toe like a stain. It lifted her body off the ground, suspending it in the night air, lengthening her arms and legs until she was fully outstretched.

She looked like a black butterfly pinned to an invisible wall.

I felt all the air seize inside my chest at the sight.   

“Shit,” Dante said succinctly.

Caroline, now on her feet, screamed, her voice shrill and flat, as if hadn’t quite gotten used to working again. The sound of it broke me out of my immobility. I rushed forward but Dante was there, both arms barring me from getting any closer.

“Don’t,” he whispered. “You already have a sin inside you, if you get too close even I won’t be able to save you.”

I stared over his shoulder and watched as the black liquid that was Wrath streamed into Andy’s open mouth. It was like watching a movie played in reverse, only worse. She was screaming, her mouth a perfect O, but nothing was coming out, only Wrath going in. It wasn’t just her mouth either – the black ooze flooded her eyes, ears, and up her nose until her body had absorbed every last drop. 

“Oh my God,” I whispered, horrified.

Andy shuttered her eyes closed, the cloud gone yet she still hung in the air, defying all the laws of gravity.

I looked back into Dante’s eyes and they were alight with something deep and sorrowful, like he’d seen all this played out many times before. It was like staring into a chasm of death and destruction from the beginning of time – all with the same winners…and losers.

I swallowed past the lump of fear and horror in my throat. “What’s going to happen to her?” I asked. 

“You don’t want to know,” he replied, his face grave. 

Wheeling around, I turned back to face Asher. My voice rose with every word that left my mouth, no longer caring who or what he was. “You can’t! You agreed! You said you wouldn’t interfere!” I yelled. 

Asher’s red eyes danced with obvious delight. “You should care, Eliza. I’m a demon. Lying is what we do.” He laughed, the sound making every hair on the nape of my neck stand in disgust. Everything about it was so wrong – like the laughter of escaped serial killers or homicidal clowns.

I turned to Dante but his face was a grim mask. I couldn't tell what he was thinking anymore. It was like he’d shut the door, leaving me out in the cold. He shook his head once, knowing what I was going to say even before I did.  

“We have to help her, Dante,” I pleaded. “We can’t leave that thing inside her.”

Asher laughed again. “Tell me, Eliza, haven’t you wondered why my brother hasn’t been able to get Lust out of you? Why he hasn’t even tried?”

I had, but I knew better than to answer. He continued like I'd said something anyway, “Not so clever after all then? The sins belong to me. They do my will, no one else’s.”  

I turned, my hands closing into tight fists as I looked back at the demon. His red eyes locked onto mine and I felt something burst open inside me. Like a dam, I overflowed with so much rage and hate I could barely see anymore. I felt Lust turn inside me, sighing at the feel of the black emotions filling me up like a glass – a poisonous cocktail of terror, fear, but above all hate.