“Who is this?” he asked me.
I opened and shut my mouth. I couldn’t explain it.
“We are about to begin the ritual. Come.” He snatched my wrist up and tugged. I reached with my other hand for Desi in a panic. His hand shot out and grabbed me, but the other man was much stronger. Instead of Desi saving me from his grasp, he was dragged forward with us.
The music stopped as we were pulled back into the party. All eyes were on us. The guard dropped my arm, and I fell to the ground. Desi helped me stand and then took a large, deep breath. He shook his head at me, and we shared a deep look for a moment.
“I love you so much. You have no clue.”
I blinked, hearing his voice in my head again. How was he doing that? He stepped forward and spread his arms out, dropping his head back to the sky.
“What are you doing?”I thought, looking at him, and he replied again in my head.
“Saving your fucking life.”
Then, I watched him open his mouth and shout to the High Blood Priestess herself.
“You want an evil soul, Magdalena? You can have mine!”
41
“What are you doing?” She reached for me. “You can’t!”
I smirked. “I’m not going to spend my immortality without you. If you think you’re the evil soul that has to die, then I’ll gladly take your place. I’ve done many a deed worse than you can ever even consider.”
I swallowed and dug my hand into my pocket. I pulled out the blank white rectangle card I’d been studying for the last few days. I never thought I’d need to use this, but it was time.
“Alright, let’s make a deal.”
Just then, a figure caught my eye, stepping directly out of the fire. He turned his head to me and waved.
Samson.
“You called?” he asked, comingtowardme. My eyes looked around to see if anyone else was seeing him. I didn’t think so. In fact, I realized then that everyone had stopped moving completely. It was as if time had been stopped for me to call him.
Everyone, that is, but Scout. Her chest was heaving, and her eyes and mouth were wide. I didn’t see recognition on her face, only shock.
“Desiderio. I knew I wasn’t done with you.” Samson gave me a sly grin that made me want to fight a demon.
“I don’t think you’ve given me any other choice. You took the one thing I cared about.”
His eyes flicked to Scout beside me. “You want me to give her memories back to her?”
I locked my jaw and said through gritted teeth. “Yes.”
“Done.” He snapped his fingers, and Scout collapsed. I flew to the side to catch her before she hit the hard ground. “She’ll be fine. Just give it a second.” He assured me as I slid to the dirt with her in my arms. “But, you know that everything I do for someone comes with a price.”
“What do you want?” I snapped.
“You run with a group. You call yourself The Seven Sins.”
I nodded solemnly. I didn’t like where this was going. “Why does that matter?”
“I know of another group. The Heavenly Virtues. I’d like to add them to my collection.”
I hesitated, looking for the angle in which I’d truly get fucked. “To clarify. Scout will return to how she was before coming to Mexico this very last time, and in exchange, I have to hunt down these seven virtues?”
He shook his head from side to side as if weighing the offer himself. “Yes,” he finally said.
