Prince Of Lust (Princes Of Sin: The Seven Deadly Sins series Book 1)

“You’ve always been too soft on him,” Ezequiel said, failing to hide any discontent toward the Prince of Sloth.

“Is this how he always behaves?” I asked both of them, not sure who would answer or if they even would.

“Gaap earned his title of prince in the battle before the Fall,” Sitri answered, tired, “but he took up responsibility only until he found a way to lay it at the other princes’ feet. The Prince of Pride was the first to take on Gaap’s legions and territories, but when the pressure of his own gifts and those of others got to be too much, he retreated to the middle of nowhere for solitude.”

“You should toss him on his ass outside and allow the Hunter to do us all a favor,” Ezequiel shot back.

“He can’t help himself.” Sitri sighed, the burden slumping him back into his desk chair. “And I owe him my loyalty. He may have abdicated his throne, but he’s come to my aide countless times.”

“Keep him away from me,” Ezequiel remarked, his arms across his chest and a deep wrinkle across his forehead.

“He will keep himself busy. I’ll call Eli, and you won’t have to give him another thought,” Sitri assured Ezequiel, and it was the last they spoke of it.

The rest of the night went by slowly. The music was far too loud, the patrons too rowdy, and I didn’t see Sitri or Ezequiel at all until closing. We went upstairs together and piled into my bed, where we had all been sleeping for the past few nights. It had taken some convincing to get Sitri to agree, but sex was a powerful motivator, as he’d so skillfully taught me.

I slept well until midmorning, lying between Sitri and Ezequiel for as long as I could, until the pressure in my head forced me to get up.

I knew the vision would come soon, like the two before it. But this would mean that their punishment would be done and I would go back to where I belonged. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them or say the words out loud. My throat strained and tightened around the thought.

I dressed for what would likely be the last time in physical clothing and took the elevator down to the club. I figured I would make myself busy washing or sweeping until the vision broke and I would have to wake Sitri and Ezequiel to take me to the charge that would surely tear me to pieces.

But when the elevator doors opened, there was a tall, rusty-haired demon sitting at the bar.

I looked around for any other beings, holy or not, but he was alone. His head hung between his shoulders, and the slump of his back reminded me of Sitri.

“Hello?” I called, wrapping my arms around myself.

He twisted in his seat and looked me over with a glazed expression, then returned to his drink with a dismissive huff.

“Are you looking for Sitri?”

To my growing annoyance, he didn’t answer. I had come down to the club to get away from the tandem breathing of the two men I would spend the rest of time missing and longing for. And here was some scruffy, long-haired jerk ignoring me and invading my solitude.

“Listen, I don’t know who you are or why you’re here, but unless you start talking, you’re going to have to leave,” I said, trying to sound as if I had any authority and reminding myself of Sitri.

He got to his feet, standing at his full, towering height, and his gravelly voice boomed across the room. “I am Ipos, a prince of Hell.”

I held my breath but refused to shrink as he stocked across the empty dance floor to stand before me. His sandy eyes blazed in dominance and indignation. Out of the princes of Hell that I’d met so far, he was by far the most intimidating. But even as my spine quaked, I did not back away.

“Well, prince of Hell, I am a Reaper, and your status means nothing to me. So, again, either tell me what you are doing here or leave.”

One of his sun-bleached brows perked, and he took a step back to look me over.

“A Reaper, huh?” He folded his arms over his chest. “What would Sitri need a Reaper for?”

“I’ll let him know you had questions for him when you stopped by.”

I didn’t owe him any sort of explanation, but more than that, I didn’t know what to say about what our arrangement had turned into. Sitri, Ezequiel, and I had entered into this punishment meaning nothing to each other aside from an inconvenient pause in our lives. But there was no future for us, and whatever needs we had would go unmet.

I opened my mouth to tell him for a third time to leave when the vision of my charge flashed over me.

The world around me darkened, and a crack of pain slit my temple.

The hospital room number on a door came into my sight. The clock on the wall read 2:34, and my charge was lying in the bed with many lines and monitors surrounding it.

The fleeting immersion faded, and I was looking at a struck prince who was gawking at me like he’d seen a ghost.

Ipos took another step back and cocked his head. The gold of his eyes seemed to brighten, and when it had gone, his features softened.

“I see.” He circled slowly around me before speaking again. “I see much more than you know.”

Decoding cryptic messages from demonic strangers was too much for my patience. “I don’t care what you see, demon. Either leave or tell me what you want.”

“You have somewhere to be, right?”

My jaw snapped shut.

“I also know you need assistance getting there.” He left a long silence between us, letting me absorb what he was saying. “And that you can’t ask Sitri or Ezequiel this time.”

“Why would you want to help me?”

“Because I have seen what would happen if you took Sitri and Ezequiel with you, and as another warden of this plane, I can’t allow that type of destruction.”

He held out his hand to me and waited.

I glanced back toward the elevator door. I didn’t want to leave them, but I also couldn’t tell them it was time for me to go. Ipos was offering me a chance to slip away and let our last night together be our end.

What better way could there be to leave?

“Will you tell them . . . tell them . . .” I choked back tears and took a deep breath to get the last request out. “Tell them thank you.”

His stern face melted. “I promise.”

I laid my hand in his, and he pulled us into the void.

The sucking darkness swallowed us whole and brought us into a bright, sterile hallway. Humans bustled from room to room, and the soft beeping of machines was the backdrop for what this place often was: the end of a long illness or the result of a sudden tragedy. Hospitals were one of the only places where humans welcomed the presence of a Reaper. We could be the relief of their suffering and shepherd them toward peace.

I couldn’t see much of anything from the doorway of the room we appeared in front of. It was dark with the exception of the blinking green and red lights from the monitors at the head of the bed. My charge, a middle-aged woman, was staring blankly up at the ceiling. Her chest labored with each of her last breaths.

Ipos put his hand on my shoulder and dipped down to my ear. “I’ll be right out here.”

He didn’t need to stay, but I wondered for a moment if he was ensuring that I completed my duty.

Without another word, I crossed the room’s threshold and stood at the foot of the hospital bed.

The clock above the bed read 2:30. Though she didn’t move, I knew she could see and feel me. She had been given pain meds to numb the many organs that had failed during her battle with cancer. But the perception of death in the room was too hard to ignore, no matter how much medication was pumping through one’s blood.

“Please,” my charge wheezed.

I kneeled at the side of the bed, and her glazed eyes followed.

“Please, not yet.” Her words were broken by tears and heavy breaths.

“I am here to accompany you,” I explained.

“My daughter.” She looked toward the door. Ipos was still in the hall. “She’s coming. Please wait.”

I stole another glance up at the clock, then to the door. My charge’s head rolled back over to face me, tears thick in her eyes.

“She knows you love her very much,” I offered, knowing all too well that lost last moments could break your heart just as much as painful goodbyes.

“Please.”

Her voice cracked, and pain clenched my chest.

I wanted time to wait for her, to allow her daughter to walk in before one life was snuffed out and the other changed forever. But I had no power over fate, and her breathing was slow and shallow.

I waited for her last breath to pass over her lips.

The light from her eyes faded, and her pulse ceased.

Several noises from the machines announced the loss of life to whoever was around to hear them.

I set my hand on her chest and waited for her soul to appear at my side. It was a regrettable passing, but both of us were moving on to where we belonged.

“Mom?”

My eyes snapped to a young woman in the doorway. Surprise was written on Ipos’ face.

I got to my feet and watched in horror as the young woman fixed on the empty vessel of her mother. Realization, disbelief, and grief struck her all at once as she fell to her knees.

“Mom, please. Wake up, Mom,” she cried. “No, no, no. Please.”

I locked on Ipos. His mess of red hair and scruffy face was blurred by tears forming in my own eyes. He stepped into the room, and I felt a tug at my hand.

My charge’s soul had appeared, her glow bright and grateful.

I looked back at her daughter in time to see Ipos pull the young woman into his arms before the darkness of the void swallowed me up into the seam between space and time.

My charge and I were welcomed into the beyond and taken away from the ones we loved.