The Seven Deadly Sinners

28

"So, how's Hades doing?" Kat asked when Colby and I came downstairs a little while later.

"Fine. Same annoying guy as always. Kept me knocked out until he'd explained everything to Jupiter and then basically said she could tell us what she needed to know," said Colby.

"And congratulated us on finally falling all of the way, so no more fucking heart attacks," I said. Everyone smiled when I said that, the girls squealing and running over to give me a hug.

"Yay!" said Dev.

"I'm so happy for you!" said Kat.

"That was fast," I heard Jake say.

"I know. But I wouldn't want it any other way," Colby said. I was engulfed in a giant hug by the three girls, but I could hear Colby smiling by the way his voice sounded.

"What were you supposed to tell us?" asked Corey.

"Our 'mission' or whatever," I said.

"Oh yeah. I guess we need a new one, huh? Our last one was finding you," said Corey.

"Ugh, do we have to go back down again? It's so depressing down there," said Tara.

"Nope," I replied. "He said he knows you like it up here so we'll stay here for a long time."

"Fuck yes. That's at least another few centuries in Hade's terms," said Jake.

"So what's the mission?" asked Sam.

"It's really easy, actually. We're basically just hitmen. He sends us a name or group of names and we have to kill whoever's on the list of names," I said.

"And you think that's easy why?" asked Kevin.

"Because we have our powers. We can use those, no?" I asked.

"Of course we can use them. But we're still breaking the law. We could get in trouble," said Kat.

"What? By who?" I asked.

"Uh, the police," said Tara.

"Can't we just Urge them?" I asked.

"We can Urge someone we're making eye contact with. But if there's multiple witnesses or bystanders to something that we do, it'll be a huge challenge to track them all down and Urge them before they're able to report us or turn us in to the cops. It's possible to get our way out of it, but it's a lot of trouble and there's a lot of factors and risks involved. What are we supposed to do if we somehow end up with a death sentence and for some reason can't get out of it? Just rot in a cell for eternity? We don't want anyone to know we have these powers or that we're demons. They'll come for us and attack us. They can't kill us, but they can still hurt us," said Sam.

"Or put us into an essentially permanent coma," said Kat.

"Oh. I hadn't really thought about that," I said. I'd been dodging cops for years, but that was by laying low and only going so far as to kill someone when there was no other way. I'd only killed three people myself. I had other people do it for me every other time, usually Axel.

"I'm not saying we can't do it, because we totally can, we're just going to have to exercise reasonable caution and be aware of our surroundings when using our powers that can be detected. If these people are bad enough for Hades to want dead, then they're probably pretty smart and not alone very often," Sam said. "They've probably got a network of people working for or watching out for them. We can't let other people see what we're capable of or else we'll have to Urge them or possibly even kill them in addition to the target. I know we're demons, but we don't want to inflict too much more damage than necessary."

"That makes sense," I said.

"So who's the first person y'all have to kill?" Kevin asked.

"I don't know yet. Hades said he'll send it in a couple of days," I replied.

"What, is he just going to send us a list in the mail?" Corey asked.

"I don't know. I didn't ask. I'm assuming he's got a way of telling us, though," I said.

"I'm assuming that as well," said Colby.

"So we just get to vibe for a couple days?" asked Corey.

"I suppose," I replied.

"No way, that's crazy!" Corey said.

"Why?" I asked.

"There hasn't been a single day we haven't been bogged down with some sort of responsibility or task for over 230 years. I know we didn't spend all of our time actively working toward the goal, but it's nice to have a sense of relief and knowledge that we're not being held to any specific expectations," said Dev.

"I can relate to that, actually. Except for maybe two years, not 230," I said. Being the ring's boss had been exhausting. Constantly putting myself in harm's way, having to build relationships with people I didn't like and keep up to date on information I didn't particularly care about.

"Well the, let's make this a great few days," said Kat.

"Sounds good to me," Tara agreed.