The Seven Deadly Sinners

37

"He raised some valid points and questions in there, J. What are you doing now? What's The Octet and why is it more important to you than all of this?" Axel asked. I wondered if I should piss him off. Maybe if he came at me first, I could kill him and pass it off as self defense. But that entire group of people in there wouldn't simply believe that Axel had tried to kill me. He'd been speaking up for me all night. Plus, Trixie knew that Axel would back down from an argument we were having before things got physical.

I decided it wouldn't hurt for Axel to be mad, just in case someone might hear him raise his voice or something.

"I found some people that meant more to me than you did," I said. It hurt me to say that, but emotions were a thing I'd learned to ignore during business.

"You don't mean that," Axel said.

"I do, though. They're why I left you guys. For them," I said calmly.

"Why did you come tonight, Jupiter?" Axel asked.

"Because Trixie asked me to," I lied.

"You didn't have to listen," Axel pointed out.

"Why do you even care? You have a new leader. I know you don't mind change," I said.

"Just because I don't mind it doesn't mean I welcome it," he replied.

"Axel. I'm not a part of this anymore. I've moved on to something bigger, something better. And you're not a part of it," I said.

"You're not one to keep secrets. Especially from me," said Axel.

"Clearly I am. Maybe you don't know me as well as you thought," I replied.

"Don't know you? I took you in when you were at your lowest, sweetheart," Axel said. He was starting to get mad, calling me nice names with a harsh tone. "I made you what you are. I'm the reason you're still even alive."

"I would agree with you if you hadn't literally tried to kill me. All because you were jealous of me," I said, taking a step closer to him.

"I wasn't jealous, I was just sick of your shit," Axel said.

"Then why did you give me that week to prove myself? If you were actually tired of me, you would have cut me loose or just killed me without giving me any chance of showing you up," I said.

"You did not show me up!" Axel argued.

"I did, though. You were in the game long before me, and I still managed to surpass you. I was higher up in the ranks than you. I did your job better than you when I was in the position to do so. You needed me more than I needed you. Maybe I needed you at first, but I was doing just fine for those several months that I'd left you and the ring behind before running into you again," I said. He just stared at me, his jaw clenched. He wasn't saying anything because he knew I was right. I could tell he was mad. I just needed to push him a little further, and I knew exactly how. "I should have aimed for your head, not your foot.

That did the trick.

"You are a narcissistic child! I never should have helped you or done anything for you at all!" he yelled.

"No. You shouldn't have," I agreed.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean!" he shouted.

"That I would have been better off dead on the streets than involved in all of this bullshit," I said, my voice still calm to make him even more mad.

"You bitch," he hissed.

Everything after that happened fast. But I had my powers and he had no idea. His reflexes were quicker than my natural ones, but I had 10x normal human speed. His hand was in his pocket seconds after he finished speaking, but he pulled out his knife much later than I'd pulled out two of mine. He was clearly a little confused on how I'd managed to do that so quick, but obviously wasn't going to ask me for an explanation. Now was the time to put all of my powers to the test.

Left thigh, her dominant foot is her left.

I waited for him to lunge at me, knife drawn, before turning myself so that his blade met nothing but air. I waited until he stumbled forward and had to focus on quickly regaining his balance and turned myself invisible before he could turn back around.

"What the fu—," he started. He was cut off by me jutting one of my knives into him, right above his armpit. Directly into his axillary artery.

"FUCK!" he screamed. He ripped it out of himself and threw it unexpectedly. I hadn't been paying close enough attention and it flew past my arm, nicking my elbow. Luckily for me, elbows were one of the least sensitive places on the body.

"Ah!" I hissed, holding my elbow with my opposite hand to try and manage the bleeding. It wasn't a lethal injury, but it was pretty deep. And then I remembered I couldn't die from bleeding out or infection. Only go into a coma if something directly damaged my heart, lungs, or brain. But that was it. Everything else would hurt like a bitch, but it wouldn't kill me.

"How the fuck did you do that!" Axel screamed, holding his wound with one arm and already holding a new knife in my direction. Shit, I was visible again. Adrenaline and pain seemed to fuck with my powers and I wasn't too experienced with these things.

"Colby, help," I said softly.

"What, you think your little minion can help you?" Axel asked, lunging toward me again. I ducked out of his way and hopped backward, but tripped over my big heavy purse that I'd dropped onto the ground when we'd come outside. I fell backward and rolled out of the way, but not before Axel gave me a pretty decently sized cut on the back of my thigh. I struggled to get up for a moment, but Colby suddenly appeared in between me and Axel.

Colby shoved Axel backward as hard as he could, which sent Axel down to the ground.

"Jupiter!" Colby said, pulling me up. "Oh, fuck," he whispered when he saw the blood running down into my heels from the back of my leg.

And then Colby was Wrath. More than he ever had been before.

"You fucking hurt her?" Colby yelled, stepping over to Axel. He stomped down on Axel's wrist, pinning him to the ground he'd already been laying on. Axel brought his other hand up to stab Colby in the ankle, but Colby simply kicked Axel's hand hard enough for me to hear a loud snapping noise and his finger to bend in an unnatural way, causing the weapon to clatter onto the deck.

"What the fuck is going—," Trixie said, poking her head out of the door. Shit. I quickly moved to her and grabbed her by the throat, dragging her fully outside and softly shutting the door. I stared into her eyes and gripped her neck even harder, digging my nails into her skin. Trixie didn't carry weapons.

"You didn't see anything. Colby, Axel, and I are out here having a nice little talk about how I've been doing since I left the ring. You will go back inside and tell anyone who asks that we're doing just fine," I said, feeling the glint radiate off of my eyes. She gave me a short nod and walked back inside, her steps light and casual.

I turned back around to see Colby on his hands and knees on top of Axel, pinning his limbs down.

"Do it! Now! Hurry!" Colby exclaimed. I ran over with my knife to finish what we'd started, but a strong hand wrapped itself around my waist and yanked me back before I could.

"I guess you're not an angel after all, huh?" Kian whispered into my ear. I felt something cold press against my neck and didn't have to look down to see that it was a blade.