I frowned and closed my eyes. I tried to feel what he did. The only thing that brushed against me was the wind that whistled around the watchtower. But then the familiar shiver went down my spine.

  “A Sin.” I looked to Zachariah and he nodded.

  “Ready to lock our first one away?”

  I guess I was. I summoned my scythe and looked around. Lust appeared in front of us. He flashed a wicked smile at me. “Hello, Little Death. It’s been a while. Did you miss me?”

  “No.” I spun my scythe and attacked. I brought the blade down in an overhead strike and barely missed him. He moved to the side and looked down at the tear in his shirt.

  “Are you still angry with me?” He tutted his tongue and summoned his short blades.

  Zachariah came up to my side. “I need you to grab a hold of him, leave the rest up to me.”

  I had to trust him to have my back in this, but doubt clung to my mind. I took a few quick steps towards Lust and he laughed before jumping at me. I hit him in the side with the handle of my scythe, but he still took me down. He pinned me to the ground and his eyes met mine. “Come on, Sammy, you know you don’t want to fight me.”

  I remembered how it felt when I kissed him the first time. Before I knew he was Lust. The way my body felt as he pressed his lips to mine. I let my scythe disappear and looked at Zachariah he nodded and took a step forward. Lust looked at him. “Stay right there, angel, or I’ll make sure to slice her open so she has no chance of recovering.”

  Wrapping my hands around his head, I pulled him down for a kiss. I could feel his power snake around us and I could feel the pull of him. I’d let him do what he wanted in any way with me, just as long as I had him.

  The world shifted around us. White soft sand replaced the hard ground below me. Waves crashing against the shore sounded in the distance. Lust shoved away from me. I flipped up with my scythe and looked around. Zachariah was muttering something with his hands moving in graceful forms.

  Red and white swirls appeared in front of Lust, creating a white portal around him. As Zachariah continued to chant the colors closed around Lust with a little pop. The seal formed in the sand, pulsing as if someone was pounding against it.

  “I can’t even begin to describe how gross it was that you kissed him willingly.” Zachariah scrunched up his face. “Was that the best way you could think of to distract him?”

  I shrugged. “We have history together, it was the first thing that popped into my mind.”

  “Well,” He grabbed my hand and the world around us changed back into the platform of the watchtower. The cold wind chased away the remaining warmth of the beach. “That’s one down, but he was the easy one. I owe you two before you lead me into Hell.”

  I nodded. “One down.” I turned to the side of the tower that looked over the city. “So does that mean all the Lust disappears from the world? Like with Death sealed away?”

  “No, it lessens his influences, but doesn’t erase it. The Sins...they’re different than the horsemen. They are stronger and needed to maintain balance. They can still whisper from their seals, but they can’t be as demanding. The same will go for Lucile, if someone manages to seal her in Hell.”

  I leaned against the railing and watched the few people below move through the streets. “Do you think that’s possible?”

  “I do, but I think it’ll require a bigger sacrifice than people are willing to give.”

  I closed my eyes and wondered what that meant. What would be a big enough sacrifice for Lucile’s seal? There was nothing sacrificed for Lust, but of course he wasn’t the Devil.

  “What are you thinking about over there?”

  I turned back to him. “Just about sacrifices. If we free Death that means the rule of sacrificing something to get in and out of Hell is applied again.”

  “If you use a gateway, yes.” He said. “I don’t have to, which means the rules don’t apply to me. I’m breaking an agreement between Lucile and Michael, but we all agreed it was worth the risk.”

  The agreement that demons stay out of heaven and archangels stay out of Hell. “I think they’ve already broken some rules by taking the horsemen, don’t you?”

  He nodded. “That’s why Michael was willing to risk this. As long as we can get in and out, then we’re going to be just fine.”

  “One horseman is all we need and we can do the rest. It’ll be nice to see my dad again.” And for all the people who needed to be reaped to be free. My mind went to the people in the hut. They would finally find peace. May and the priest, they’d find peace and salvation because they were both innocent souls.

  23

  “So Lust is sealed away.” Ruthie sat in front of me while we enjoyed our food. “How do you like the watch tower job?”

  I tore open my rations and looked inside at the cheese and crackers. No meat, no other grains, but something that might have been dried fruit. I frowned. “I think it’s boring, but that’s okay. It could be worse.”

  Ruthie looked in her bag and looked just as disappointed. “Well, I think they are running out of food. Which means that they may try to raid another city.”

  Aeron came up the stairs, dark circles under his eyes and his shoulders slumped. “You’re right, they are gathering people for an army. They want us to march to the next capital and raid them. Their numbers are smaller than the city here.” He leaned against the walls. “But they are going to run the soldiers ragged. I’m exhausted and I’m a Child of the Apocalypse. I’m the child of War and I’m tired.”

  He slid down the wall and looked at us. “Someone want to toss me my lunch?”

  Ruthie threw him a bag. “Don’t be disappointed, it’s not much.”

  “We’ll starve and be weakened. If Death was out, many of the people here would die of starvation.” He looked at me. “Rumor has it that you kissed Lust in order to lock him away.”

  I nibbled on my cheese. “I kissed him to distract him. It worked and Zachariah was able to lock him away. That’s one down.”

  “Six more to go.” Aeron leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment. His grip on his bag loosened enough that it fell to the floor. Quiet snores fell from his lips and I looked to Ruthie.

  “He left not long after you last night.” She bit into her cracker and made a face.

  I looked down at mine and assumed it was probably stale. “So he really is exhausted. I don’t know what else to do. I guess we could go look for another Sin when Zachariah wakes up, but now that Lust is sealed away, I highly doubt they would just approach both of us together.”

  “They might if it’s one of the stronger Sins.” Ruthie put her bag between her legs. “The sooner you can release Death the better.”

  I finished my cheese and tried the crackers. I gagged and put the other half back in the black pouch. “Those are gross. I don’t think they are actual food.”

  “It’d be nice to have Famine back too.” Ruthie agreed. “It’s going to take time, but we’ll get them back.” She looked over at Aeron. “And we’ll make sure everyone is in top shape to fight Lucile when it comes down to it.”

  I imagined all of us against the Devil. With the horsemen, the advantage was on our side. We could trap her in Hell and this apocalypse would be over. “What if we can’t seal her away?”

  “Then we make sure that balance is restored by working with the horsemen. That’s the best we can do for the world.”

  I tried the dried fruit and found that it at least resembled the taste of a strawberry. “I wish you could come to Hell with me.”

  “I know you do and if you get into trouble I will come to your aid. But we both have to trust Zachariah and his angels. You’re going to be fine. Once Death is free you will come right back home.”

  But we all knew the best laid plans of mice and men. I remembered the nightmare I had when I’d been poisoned, the one where I had the choice of dying or taking Death’s place. “Nothing is black and white, something is going to throw us a curve ball.”

  “Optimism, Sammy. Optimism.” Ruthie laughed and I couldn’t help but smile. She’d been there since the beginning. Since the first demon to the last trip through Hell that I’d taken. She’d helped me hone my skills while we recovered from fighting the Sins. She was there when my mother died and she helped soothe my grief where she could. She never made me feel guilty for the mistakes I had made throughout the year.

  “I’m trying. Just, it’s hard in the face of the evil. You do realize that at least two of us would have been dead if Death was around at the time?”

  She nodded. “But everything happens for a reason, and that must be the reason that Death is locked away.”

  “No, the reason is I trusted Lust and my father couldn’t stand to see me being tortured.” Phantom pains crossed my stomach. “That’s why.”

  “Free will is a bitch, isn’t it?” Ruthie asked and leaned back on her hands. “And here we are, the apocalypse, the result of everyone’s choices. Right or wrong doesn’t matter, this is where we all ended up. When the city attacks the next capital over there will be more choices made and will either pull humankind away from the brink of extinction or push them further towards it.”

  I tossed my bag in the makeshift trashcan by the stairs. “Hopefully it doesn’t get that far. I need you guys out here for support when we get out of Hell.” All of us going in at once risked a suicide mission; if we all died, that was it. If I died, there was still a chance for the horsemen to be released.

  “You’ll have us.” Pete promised as he came up the stairs. “Sorry, I was helping downstairs with sorting the water and food. Katie says it’s about half of what it was last week.” He sat down next to me.

  I smiled at him. “You’ll have to head out soon for work.”

  “Yes, but that’s okay. I get to wander around the city since I’m doing deliveries. That means I get to see who’s here. It allows a closer up view than the watchtower.”

  I looked over at Zachariah, “Yeah, we’re going to have to get going. I want to look around the city before we go to the watchtower.”

  “I expected there to be more demons here, the city is pretty clean in terms of non-human creatures. At least from the people around the city.” Pete crossed his legs. “There’s a lot of people who are angry over the situations and others like Katie who are trying to make the best of it. A lot of people have lost loved ones or have lost contact with loved ones in other cities. There was talk about creating a mail system, but no one can agree on sending unarmed people to other cities. Now, that doesn’t mean they aren’t hiding out of sight.”

  We were isolated from everyone completely. “The anger is Wrath’s doing, I’m sure. That means he’s still around.”

  “Lust had a whore house down the way. Apparently it’s being shut down since the owner mysteriously didn’t return. They don’t have someone to replace him.” Pete chuckled. “Apparently people still need to get laid during the apocalypse.”

  I pushed away the idea that someone would be a prostitute to earn their keep, but I’m sure that was one of the jobs on the list. “I don’t really want to think about that. But if Lust was that established here, maybe Wrath is too.”

  “Where would Wrath be most powerful?” Ruthie leaned her head back to think.

  I looked over at Aeron. “Where they are training others to wage war. There’s nothing that motivates someone to fight like rage.”

  “You are brilliant.” Pete nudged me. “So you and Zachariah can take a trip to the training barracks and look around.”

  Zachariah yawned and sat up. “Did you say my name?”

  “Yep, it’s time to get up and go searching for another Sin. Are you ready?” I stood and dropped my plastic bag in the trash box.

  Zachariah stood. “Of course I am. Do you have a plan?”

  “Yep, let’s go try and sign up for the Army.”

  He gave me a doubtful look and then turned to Ruthie. “Are you coming?”

  “Why not, it’s been a while since I’ve had a good fight and if you guys are going to face Wrath you can use all the help you can get.”

  “I’m coming too then.” Pete stood. “Where’s Kaleb?”

  “Working,” Ruthie said and looked towards Aeron. “We’ll let him sleep. Let’s go.”

  Aeron would miss the battle but it was important that he got rested up so he could help later on.

  “What are you guys going to do while I’m in Hell?” I walked down the stairs and Katie stuck her head out the kitchen doorway.

  “We’re already in hell, what do you mean what are they going to do?”

  I hadn’t thought about who could overhear us. “I’m claustrophobic and scared of heights, my watchtower is a bit more of hell.”

  “Oh, okay, well, have a good shift. We should get to know each other when you get a chance.” She smiled and turned back into the kitchen.

  I had a moment where I dreaded not making any other friends. There was no one to pretend to be normal with and if we made it through this mad world, Katie and I might have been able to be friends. We all walked out and I stopped at the edge of the street and looked up and down. “So if you were a training area, where would you be?”

  “Back of the city? Out of view of the civilian populations.” Zachariah pointed towards the west corner. “Last night I saw a covered area there. I’m betting that’s it.”

  We moved towards that direction. Zachariah and Pete took lead while Ruthie and I hung back and followed them. I watched the people move away from us and spotted someone in the shadows. The reflection of a soul in the eyes told me a walking dead had managed to get into the city. I put a hand on Ruthie’s shoulder and motioned to the shadows.

  “Go.” She motioned and moved so she wasn’t standing in the road. I moved towards the person and to my surprise they didn’t move.

  “I was told to find you.” The man wore a strange set of brown overalls with spotting from oil stains on it. “They’ve been watching you, Little Death. The hand of Wrath will greet you and you will fall under his spell and become a puppet of Lucile.”

  I raised a brow. “And who are you?”

  “Just an eternal messenger of Lucile.” He smiled and two of his teeth were blackened. “It was by her demons I was made immortal.”

  I resisted rolling my eyes and grabbed his arm to see his soul. The flashes hit fast and hard as every one of his sins told me exactly what his intentions were as a human. He’d murdered, raped, tortured...every major unforgivable sin was in his memories. I shoved him away and snarled. “You tell Lucile and her Sins that her warning means nothing.”

  “Little Death, so full of confidence.” He gave a dark laugh.

  “You tell her that I sliced Camille in half and I plan on doing the same to any demon she sends after me.” I spun on my heels and walked out of the alley. Ruthie pushed herself off the wall she was leaning on.

  “What was that all about?”

  “Lucile knows what we did to Lust. She sent a messenger to warn us.” I shook my head. “It’s nothing. She’s scared, that’s all.” I took a deep breath to control the rush of anger that continued to run through me. I hadn’t expected his memories to be so violent and him to be filled with so much hate.

  “Let’s catch up with the guys.” Ruthie motioned for us to continue down the street. Pete and Zachariah had stopped to watch us, both with their arms crossed over their chests.

  Ruthie and I jogged to catch up to them. “So Lucile knows where we are.”

  “Good, that means she’ll be sending a Sin after us and we’ll be able to complete our deal.” Zachariah looked down at me. “She sent someone to talk to you.”

  “A walking dead, he sold his soul to her for immortality. Boy is he going to be disappointed when we release Death.” I walked with them towards the soldier’s barracks.

  “No kidding. I think a lot of people who think they cheated death will be.” Pete held his hand up and stopped us. “Hold up.”

  We stopped and crouched in the shadows. A band of soldiers walked across the street.

  “I don’t understand why they think attacking another city is going to get us more supplies. They are probably running low too.”

  “They are desperate. Though if they are worried about starvation, they shouldn’t be. People aren’t dying of anything, not even the plague.”

  The soldiers stopped and looked around for a moment. I held my breath as their gaze seemed to sweep over us.

  They continued talking as they surveyed the area. “They think that other cities have already sent people here to spy. That maybe one of the cities managed to create a vaccine to prevent the plague. There was a group of people that came in with no aliments except for some wounds.”

  “Not possible. No one has the technology right now to create a vaccine.” Another soldier answered.

  They motioned and marched on again. The group of twelve never looked back. Zachariah stood. “So it looks like maybe they are suspicious of us.”

  “We’re probably lucky they haven’t packed us up and shipped us off somewhere to be studied.” I shuddered at the thought of the hazmat vans they had used to take some of the infected away. We turned the corner where the soldiers came from.

  The building was made from steel beams and corrugated metal, it took up half a block and looked to be better constructed than most of? the housing in the city. The doors in the front were two huge sliding barn doors. No one stood in front of them and no one else was around. It screamed trap, or at the very least, they were expecting us.

  Zachariah motioned us forward. “Wrath has a rare talent, he can turn us against each other. He can find that one kernel of irritation and turn it into full fledged anger.”

  “So how do we counter balance that?” I summoned my scythe.

  Ruthie came to my side. “You focus on the one thing you like most about that person. Whatever their saving grace is.”

  I kept that in mind and walked up to the sliding doors. Pete pulled one open and it revealed a warehouse. I frowned. “I thought these were the barracks.”