"And Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear!" Genesis 4:13
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Trumpets.
The sound is engraved in my mind. The impossible became possible. The scripture I brushed off for years became true. The trumpets echoed in my mind, trying to evoke my descent into sin, my failure to be a servant to the almighty and live fruitfully. How could I have known he was real? I had no idea something so powerful existed. I felt cheated! This wasn't fair! Damn it! This shit's not my fault, or so I thought...
"How's the pavement?" The muscular woman asked as the corpse rotted beneath her booted feet. Her eyes narrowed as the corpse's vital fluid stained her clenched hands. "You just didn't listen. What did ya think would happen trying to double-cross me?" She asked once more, crouching as she grabbed the corpse by its collar with one of her calloused hands. She observed it with her steel blue eyes, looking for anything that would confirm her suspicions.
Her eyes narrowed in on the vulgar tattoo on the skin around his neck- a snake twisted around the steel of a dagger. Next to that tattoo was an engraving shaped like a snail, causing the woman to chuckle. "Explains why he was so shit...what Sin can you get from a snail...?" She mused before glancing at the corpse's face.
Due to consecutive blows taken to the face, it was unrecognizable. Her free hand dug into the pockets of the body and pulled out some keys to a car. She shook her head and huffed. 'This fucker planned on killin' me from the start. He doesn't even have the goods...' This realization caused the woman to scoff loudly and spit in the corpse's mangled face before throwing it on the ground.
"Those bastards think they can keep my drugs away from ME!?! Did they forget who the FUCK I am!?!" The woman asked furiously and waltzed away from the corpse. She walked down the abandoned block filled with charred houses and wrecked cars. Despite it being early morning, the world still seemed so dark. She always, even if reluctantly, wondered if God minimized the brightness of the planet, left with nothing but sinners and nonbelievers. She tried to ignore the thoughts of the big man in the sky since he left her down on Earth to rot. She refused to let the abilities of a higher power make her look like a small fry, so she walked where she wanted and did what she wanted, even if it fueled God's reason for leaving her on the wasteland that kept humanity alive for so long.
The woman marched for a few minutes until she came across a Jeep Wrangler and grunted in satisfaction. She pressed a button on the keys to see the lights flicker on the Jeep. "Damn, I know he's rotting in hell with tears in his eyes for leaving such a beauty behind." She mused, finding the idea of the man rotting in hell to be rather amusing. The woman got into the Jeep and sat in the driver's seat, leaning her head on the head restraint once she was comfortably seated in the car. "Destinee...why do you always gotta get the job done yourself...?" Destinee murmured to herself - she looked out of her peripheral vision to see a backpack in the passenger seat of the Jeep.
She hummed, a hint of curiosity in her tone as she reached over and grabbed the backpack by one of its straps and unzipped it to see what contents rested inside. Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed the map inside the bag and pulled it out. "Now, where does this lead to...?" Destinee scanned the circled areas on the map before smirking deviously when she spotted a location titled Drug Ring in a red sharpie underneath where it was circled. "Boom, that's where I'll find my goods. Time to raid a motherfuckin' drug ring!" She snickered excitedly, tossing the map on the dashboard and sticking the key into the keyhole. When the Jeep's engine roared, and the headlights flared, she placed her hands on the wheel and drove down the worn streets of a city once known as Las Vegas.
Later that day, two guards dressed in stolen tactical gear stood outside of an abandoned casino, the Bellagio. There was a massive gate surrounding The casino and the hotel. The casino had lost its glamour after the Rapture, and the sinners who passed through its doors were consumed by their sins of greed and gluttony when it was active. "You think she'll be here?" One of the men questioned.
"If the boss is right, she'll show up." The other guard responded while holding the assault rifle in a ready stance to aim and fire. "When that bitch, we'll light her up so much you'd think the 4th of July came early." This metaphor caused the other guard to chuckle, leaning his head back a bit to express his amusement since his face couldn't be seen under the helmet and mask.
The two halted their banter when they saw the Jeep slowly returning with its high beams on. The guards were baffled - they didn't expect their ally to come back from an encounter with Destinee. Eventually, they murmured to each other something about 'being lucky' before stepping to the side, expecting the vehicle to stop, but it didn't before pushing up against the gate. "What the fuck...?"
"Hmm? There's nobody in the car, " the guard with the dagger said before suddenly falling and disappearing with a final shout.
"What the..." The other guard looked around with his assault rifle prepared to fire but was also a victim to the entity that caught his ally as he fell and disappeared.
SNAP! SNAP!
The bodies of the guards were suddenly tossed out from under the Jeep, their necks snapped like toothpicks, the bone protruding from their skin. Destinee slowly crawled from underneath the car and scoffed as she stood. "Bunch of idiots. Did they think one bastard could take me on?" She mused and grabbed the dagger off the guard's body before taking the rifle off the other.
After placing the dagger in her pocket and throwing the assault rifle's strap across her shoulder, she lifted one of the corpses. She noticed a scanner for an individual eye on the gate. She placed the corpse's eye against the scanner and tossed it to the side when she heard a BEEP BEEP, which meant the gate was unlocked.
Destinee pushed open the gate and walked onto the premises of the casino. She entered the hotel building before seeing red dots covering her body. When she looked down the hall, there were multiple guards holding firearms with scopes and luminous dots. Her eyes stared at the guards before a smirk appeared on her face.
"Alright, let's dance then!" Destinee shouted as she rushed at them.
In one swift movement, she threw the dagger into the crowd, stabbing a guard between the eyes and catching the others off guard. When she reached them, she lifted the assault rifle and shot two others in the chest a few times to make sure she got through the extra layers they had on before turning to another and punching them in the face with enough force to shatter their helmet against the wall their head collided with. Blood splattered against the walls as she pummeled and gunned down the guards in the hallway, with nothing but the crackling of gunfire and screams of guards in the distance. After that, Destinee was surrounded by nothing but corpses filled with bullet holes or dents from her fists.
Destinee scoffed. "They've gotta be joking, right? This can't be the best guards they have in a drug ring..." She said while wiping the blood of her enemies from her face and continuing her expedition through the building. She was skeptical about the security in such a high-valued place; she assumed that no one could match her strength. She IS a fighter, after all.
Destinee explored the upper floors to find nothing.
No guards.
No drugs.
NOTHING!
Destinee punched a hole into the wall, growling viciously.
Her voice echoed through the halls as she exclaimed, "Where the fuck is everything!?" The pink-haired woman pulled her hand out the wall and stomped through the halls. "I'll just have to find the shit myself! I'll check the casino! If it's not there, I'm gonna lose it!" She complained the entire way to the casino as she ran her hands through her dyed pink hair. There was a fury in her soul.
Those drugs were the only thing that could keep her calm in these lands unrecognizable after the Rapture.
Even before the Rapture, they were the only thing calming her rage.
The casino was empty. There wasn't a single chair or table in the vast room. They were either replaced with metal tables harboring bloody blotches or a stench of death that caused Destinee to scrunch her face. "The fuck...?" The pink-haired woman murmured before looking around the room until she got a glimpse of two metal bracelets on a metal table in the middle of the room. This table was the only one left alone, immune to the blood that covered the other ones. She carelessly walked in the direction of the table until she stood in front of it and picked up the pair of bracelets, which were adorned with high-tech accessories.
"These look nice," Destinee claimed as she placed them on with a click. Once the bracelets were attached to her wrists, they emitted a faint hue of white from the engravings in them before turning to a crimson hue. "Nice-" Her head turned swiftly when she heard a faint groan from a room on the upper floor. She raised a brow and made her up the rounding flight of stairs. She heard another groan. It became louder. She walked toward a room closed off by steel bars, making some sort of dungeon out of the room.
"What the hell...?" Destinee muttered as she looked into the dungeon, which reeked of sex and dread. She couldn't make out the figure of the person. Her eyes widened when she saw the body in the shadows move, seeing the hand in the light of the dungeon twitch. 'No way...he's alive in a hellhole like this? That's insane!'
Destinee didn't know what came over her. Her steel blue eyes converted to a crimson color before letting off a red hue as she pulled on the metal bars to the makeshift dungeon, bending them with remarkable strength.
Vanity's Might...
That was the name of Destinee's Sin.
Her incredible strength, used for wicked deeds throughout her life, resulted in this curse. The Mark of the Beast, represented by a peacock, glowed on the back of her right hand beneath the bandages wrapped around her knuckles whenever she activated this power. Vanity's Might increased her strength to a point where none could match it. The more pride and hubris she embraced, the stronger she would become. But it had to be genuine pride, not something false. Her fist felt like steel, and her bones were dense like titanium. There was no one she had met who could match such strength. Not even elephants, tigers, and polar bears. Why are those examples? Let's just say a trip to the zoo turned into the massacre of rampaging animals.
Upon entering the dungeon, she could see a young man with honey-blonde hair and pale blue eyes lying on the damp floors. His gentle skin was covered in bruises, cuts, hickeys, and hand prints. He was without clothes and famished.
Destinee scrunched her face, walking over to the weakened man before crouching beside him. "Why the hell do they have you in here? And why does it smell like they dumped buckets of cum on ya...? Oh, I should've asked if you could talk. They beat you badly, huh...?" She asked in barely a whispering tone.
Even though Destinee has witnessed considerable violence in her life, she has never seen anything quite this severe. Usually, the brutality she experienced stemmed from combat between fighters, but she has seldom encountered violence that arises from the powerful preying on the vulnerable.
"M-My name is Everett...Y-You shouldn't be here..." The man weakly murmured. "You...have to leave...it's a trap..." He faintly clenched his fists, unable to move his beaten body.
Destinee raised her brow and heard footsteps outside of the room. She left the young man's side to look outside and see dozens of men entering the casino's main hall, which caused her to scoff. She narrowed her eyes and quickly returned to the man's side. "Damn it..." She scowled, trying to think of a way to handle this situation.
"We were expecting you, Ms. Destinee. It's an honor to be in the presence of such a powerful sinner." A man with a rough British accent spoke up from behind the horde of men; his face shadowed by a cloak that covered the majority of his body. "Nobody with an ego as loud as you could resist returning to those who tested your strength and mercy." He spoke again, leaning on his cane that was adorned in metal alloy.
"Y-You need to leave...they'll kill you," Everett begged, trying to bring himself to his knees as a line of crimson rolled out of his nose. "You will be their n-next victim..." He wanted to protect Destinee from the same fate.
Destinee scoffed loudly as her eyes illuminated the dungeon. "Nah, I'm not sure if you know who I am, but I am nobody's victim. I'm not stuck here with them; these bastards are stuck with me..." Before the blonde could muster the strength to speak, she walked out of the dungeon and made it to the railing above the main hall, staring down at the crooks. "You guys made a huge mistake pissing me off. Where's my drugs...or else I'm crashing out..." Destinee warned them as a vein bulged on her face, signifying her anger as her eyes burned through the goons with intense hatred.
"I was wondering if I could use you for an experiment against my men," The cloaked man asked with formal tone, completely ignoring Destinee's threat, earning him a grunt from her. "Your Sin grants you strength no man has ever acquired. The curse turned you into a Goddess of power. As a man of science, I would love to test some of my gadgets. I would like to see if your strength can defeat my intellect...if your brawns can overthrow my brains." He explained while leaning on the cane before eyeing his goons from underneath the hood, staring at the chips planted into their necks.
Destinee leaped over the railing and landed on her feet, confronting the goons and their boss. "Hordes of crooks might scare other bitches. But to me, I'm just sending Luci some new souls to have fun with," She said with a sinister smirk, her glowing eyes oozing with energy to signify her Sin was reaching its maximum output as she raised her fists. She observed the horde, seeing no life behind their eyes. It was almost as if they were mindless shells, flesh without souls. "...that's if they're not already there..."
Meanwhile, Everett was able to drag himself to the railing on the upper floor after grabbing a torn cloak that was left in his dungeon to cover himself. He was concerned for Destinee's safety. She knew nothing about her opponents, nor did she know what they were. His heart raced in anticipation, weakly kneeling due to his exhaustion. 'I...I can't help her from here...God, what am I supposed to do...?' He prayed to the Lord, hoping he would receive some sort of answer from the higher power he considered his Father.
Destinee approached the lifeless horde of men as the cloaked man chuckled. "Well, I will leave you to it then. I hope you use the gift I gave you. It was meant for someone else, but I believe you could make better use of it if then that brute would." He spoke while turning away and limping to the exit of the casino. He slowly pulled up the sleeve of his cloak to reveal his mark of the beast, which was a pig. "Now, let us see what you can do..."
Once the handicapped man's mark glowed green, parts of the goons' bodies converted into cybernetic enhancements through the chip implanted into their necks. Some possessed arms that turned into weaponry, mouths that turned into holes akin to a shredder, and feet with the power to destroy concrete walls.
Destinee's eyes narrowed.
She was shocked by the sudden change from flesh to machine but didn't have time to worry about what she was facing.
She only knew one thing - she had to win.
Destinee rushed at the horde of men as her fists emitted a red hue. "Human or machine, I don't care what you fuckers are! The moment my fists make contact, I'm mauling every last one of ya!" She declared and swiftly ducked under the bladed arm of one mindless goon, punching them in the forearm with so much force that it blew off the rest of their limb. She then proceeded to aim an uppercut at the chin of her opponent.
The goon didn't scream in pain. Instead, they raised their other arm before Destinee could connect the uppercut and punched her in the face with enough force to make her blackout for a second, her eyes rolling back into her head until she regained her composure and proceeded with her uppercut, knocking the goon's head off as blood sprayed through the air. 'Huh...!? Did I just...pass out!? Damn it, it's like this bastard's fist is made of steel, but there's still blood, so why did it feel like a truck hit me!?' Destinee thought furiously as blood rolled out of her nose. When she was grabbed from behind by another goon into a full-nelson, she tried to escape but had to struggle due to their cybernetic enhancements. 'They are stronger than your average punk, too!'
"What the hell!?" Her eyes widened when another goon pointed their arm at her head, turning it into a futuristic blaster that charged with plasmatic energy. As the blaster fired, Destinee quickly ducked and let the cybernetic human blast the other one's head off so she could break free from the headless corpse's grasp and punch a hole through the stomach of the opponent with the blaster for an arm. "I have to keep going...before the Sin takes a toll on my body...!" She said in a low tone as she slowly turned her head to the many other cybernetic goons. She removed her hand from the stomach of the cybernetic person as their organs spilled out on the floor.
Everett watched in anticipation as Destinee continued to attack the cybernetic enemies despite having a serious disadvantage against them. She learned that even though the goons could be killed, they didn't feel pain and would attack until they ultimately died from an "instant death" attack. As the fight continued, Destinee showed her impressive fighting skills she learned in the underground arena during the time before the Rapture, but she was overpowered by the dozens of goons who continued to assault her despite taking damage or seeing allies perish. It was almost like there was no end to the enemies, especially when some of them stood up after surviving a blow they considered non-fatal.
Destinee stumbled back when one of the goons punched her in the face, which enraged her. She gritted her teeth and cocked her fist back, not expecting the metal bracelets on her arm to start beeping loudly. When she commenced the punch, her fist was enveloped by the bracelet, which turned into a large gauntlet, making her punch have so much force that it sent the enemy flying across the casino, through the walls in the distance, and landing outside of the former gambling building. "Huh...?" Destinee blinked, awestruck by the output of damage, before looking down at the oversized gauntlets over her hands. The gauntlets coursed with kinetic energy, which glowed through the cracks of the mechanical fists Destinee envisioned as boxing gloves. "Oh yeah~." She smirked and dashed at the horde with a newfound power that sent them flying. In the end, she could only do so much against so many enemies, even with these gauntlets that shattered concrete and turned bones to powder.
Destinee was sent flying through the air from an uppercut delivered by one of the goons with a cybernetic arm, which amplified their strength. She crashed through one of the metal tables in the room and groaned. "Ugh..." She slowly got to her feet and spit out blood, scowling at the remaining enemies.
She had to power through before her Sin took its toll on her mind, body, and soul.
Destinee scoffed, chuckling when she realized two cybernetic bastards remained, and raised her fists once again, steam releasing from the vents at the bottom of her gauntlets. "Heh~. Only two left...? You sure you don't want to run back to your master and suck his dick for forgiveness. Oh, you can tell him to bring my drugs too, or else I'm going to rip off every one of his limbs one by one~." She teased her enemies, believing she would beat them easily.
The two cybernetic men looked at each other before grabbing each other's hands and merging to become one superhuman with four arms. Each arm was covered in steel and green lines that resembled veins coursing with plasmatic energy. "YoU wIlL dIe." The abomination spoke while walking toward the woman, who stared in disbelief.
Destinee toughened up and started walking toward the monster as well, growling loudly as the Mark of the Beast glowed brightly on her neck. "Nu-huh..." She replied angrily before cocking her fist back and clashing with one of the monster's four fists. This clash caused a shockwave to ripple through the room, shattering some of the windows in the casino's main hall.
The two proceeded to get into a battle consisting of countless clashes, which started to become overwhelming for Destinee since she had to move faster to counter his additional limbs. If she slipped up once, she would have to take a blow that could mess up her momentum.
Destinee felt sweat trickle down her face as she continued to clash with the monster, her eyes flickering between crimson and steel blue, signifying that her Sin was starting to wear off. She gritted her teeth and countered another punch coming to her head but then gagged up blood when the monster used one of its lower arms to tag her in the stomach with its fists. "GAH!!!" Destinee barfed up blood as she was sent flying through the air, landing on the upper floor, her body crashing next to Everett, who shouted, "Destinee!?"
He fell to his knees and crawled over to the injured woman. "F-Fuck...!" She exhaled, trying to catch her breath. She had never been hit with that much force. Her muscles wouldn't listen to her as she tried to move. They were screaming at her to stop, or she'd break herself. "Come on, Des...! Get up!" She told herself angrily, trying to force her body to move, but she couldn't.
"I can...get you back out there..." Everett told Destinee, causing her crimson eyes to dart towards him. "You just...have to trust me..." His blue eyes let off a pink hue as his hands became engulfed in a pink aura. He moved closer to Destinee, causing her eyes to widen when he pressed his lips against hers before his tongue entered her mouth, drooling leaking out the corner of her lips. At that moment, Destinee wanted to react with an attack, but she couldn't move her battered body as Everett's hands weakly trailed her body before groping the underside of her breasts. On Everett's left pectoral, the Mark of the Beast, represented by a goat, let off a faint glow.
'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS BASTARD DOING!?!' Destinee thought furiously, hearing the heavy footsteps of the cybernetic monster coming up the steps. She couldn't believe her body was being taken advantage of in such a weakened state.
Her pride could only take so much.
But all of a sudden, Destinee felt a surge of power course through her entire body. Her crimson eyes became a rose pink as she slowly clenched her fists inside the gauntlets.
The monster had reached the top of the steps and charged at the two of them. But at that moment, just before the cybernetic humanoid could strike, Destinee pulled her lips away from Everett's and positioned herself in front of him, raising her arms to block the attack with ease as the floor shattered. "What's...this power...and why the hell do I feel so horny!?" She mused, pushing the monster back and punching it in the deformed face, destroying its jaw while it fell over the railing. Despite the damage it took, the monster slowly rose to its feet. Unfortunately, Destinee leaped off the railing and slammed her feet into the body of the monster, forming a crater on the floor. "NO YOU DON'T!!!" Destinee shouted, throwing rapid-fire punches at the large monster underneath her feet, brutalizing it until there was nothing but mush where the face should be. The monster's body twitched until it went limp.
Destinee panted heavily as she slowly stepped off the monster and looked around the main hall of the casino. Alone, Destinee murdered over twenty people. It wasn't a feat to be proud of, but given the circumstances, it was an incredible speed. "Fuckin' bitches..." She murmured as the gauntlets reverted to bracelets on her wrists. She snatched some clothing off a corpse to give to the man on the upper floor. However, she could feel her Sin's curse starting to fade away, along with the power-up given to her by Everett.
Destinee quickly made her way up the steps and saw Everett struggling with the penance of his Sin.
He gripped his head, trying to remain calm as horrid memories flooded his head.
His eyes glowed brightly.
Destinee walked over to him and crouched beside him before placing the tethered clothes next to his body. "Your Sin...it can boost the stats of your allies through smutty shit, huh...?" She said, mainly to herself, as she watched Everett struggle until something snapped inside of her mind, causing her eyes to widen.
It was her turn.
The penance would be far more severe for Destinee, for she had drained every ounce of her Sin until it was no longer hers to command. Her body trembled as she collapsed to her knees, the weight of her sins pressing down like an unyielding force. In a fit of frustration, she furiously slammed her head against the cold, unforgiving floor, the pain barely registering over the torrent of guilt and despair that consumed her. The horrid image of the people she killed found a home in her mind, reminding her of the despair she brought to her own life. She felt each memory stabbing at her very soul. There was no escape, and the sins made sure of that. But, she heard someone through the midst of this torture.
"Shhh...I'm right here..." Everett said softly, running his hands through the fighter's hair as she struggled with all the guilt flushing into her head. After every twitch and spasm, Everett kept his hands on her body to help calm her down, to let her know someone was waiting for her after she relieved her sins. "You're not alone, Destinee. I'm right...here..." He repeated as he laid her head on his lap. He was now wearing the clothes Destinee placed beside him, which were a t-shirt with stains of blood, black jeans, and combat boots.
Destinee's body slowly calmed down as her blood stained the nostrils and corners of her lips. Each shaky breath that escaped her mouth reeked with stress and pain. Destinee's eyes tightly shut, and she took a deep breath before an exhale told Everett the worst of her flashbacks were over. She let a groan escape her lips and slowly sat up, glancing over at the male. "You...I didn't need you to do that..." She told him coldly, albeit with a softer tone.
"God sent someone to save me, like I prayed for...I owe you some sort of comfort. Well, I think so..." Everett breathed as he looked down at the floor, smiling a bit.
Destinee raised a brow. "God, huh...?" She muttered irritably as she slowly brought herself to her feet. She wiped the blood away from her lips and said, "Sounds like a load of bullshit to me. I have no reason to believe He sent me to save you..." She crossed her arms, painfully watching Everett struggle to his feet. He was trembling, shaking even. Her hands twitched before she slowly crouched beside the weak man and offered a shoulder to him, avoiding eye contact.
Who knows how long it's been since he was able to muster up his strength to do anything?
Everett gently rested his arm over her shoulder and used her to lift himself to his feet. "Thank you..."
"Whatever...I ain't staying here. I need to find my drugs, and fast..." Destinee muttered, pulling Everett along. By the time they made it outside of the casino, it was already starting to get dark. 'I can only assume that bastard in the cloak was one of the Last Kings...how can someone have such a crazy Sin...? I can't believe I let the bastard get the jump on me...' She growled to herself as she continued to walk toward the Jeep she used to get to the deserted casino.
Everett only glanced at Destinee's expression and decided not to say anything to the upset woman. 'The Peacock stands Sin committed through pride...is your pride shattered...?' He thought, wanting to ask her such an obvious question without any consequences. He just wanted to hear how she would respond. She helped Everett into the passenger seat before getting on the driver's side, starting the engine, and driving to a safer area. She wanted to get as far away from the casino as possible.
Later that night...
Destinee stared at the makeshift campfire made out of worn-down clothes and debris she found around the city. Her eyes expressed the rage she tried to keep hidden. She couldn't believe she allowed herself to fall into a trap so predictable. She had the Jeep parked nearby, but she didn't want to waste the gas, so she opted to make a campfire instead of using the heating in the car. Everett was sitting next to her with canned beans in his hand as he stared at the fire aimlessly.
The Kings knew sending someone to kill her would be a direct shot to her pride.
The Kings knew she'd come running to the false location of the drug ring when she realized she could quell her drug addiction if she raided the operation alone.
The Kings knew her pride would get her crushed.
At this point, Destinee was so enraged that she was biting her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, and her hands clenched down so hard that her nails dug into her calloused palms. It was infesting her mind - the humiliation was shattering her pride and becoming too much for her to bear. She growled heavily and prepared to punch the campfire with her bare fist!
Everett was too exhausted to notice Destinee's actions and slowly fell to his left, his head resting against the muscular woman's shoulder and causing Destinee to dart her head in the direction of Everett with bloodshot eyes before she realized that the blonde-haired man was asleep.
Destinee stared at Everett's sleeping figure.
His exhaustion was understandable.
If Destinee never showed up, who knew what would've happened to him in the long run?
"Why the hell did I bring you with me...?" Destinee asked the sleeping man in a low tone, unbothered by Everett's weight against her body. Slowly, Destinee rested her cheek on Everett's head. It's been a long time since she made contact with someone else without punching them. She exhaled, trying to relish in the sound of the warming campfire rather than the lingering anger in her mind. "What to do, what to do..." She whispered before taking a deep breath, deciding it would be best to deal with her new problems in the morning. She wrapped one of her arms around Everett's side as a means to keep herself warm since they had no blankets.
Luckily, it was a warm night.
Her eyes returned to the campfire. 'God...why me? If what Everett says is true, why the hell did you choose me to save him? Who am I kidding? You're not here anymore, you bastard. You left the rest of us to rot here with our sins and had the nerve to give us these curses to destroy ourselves...you fuckin' bastard...' Destinee's eyes aimlessly stared at the flames as her turmoil continued in her head, eating away at her thoughts as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
She kept her cheek resting against Everett's head.
It's been so long since she felt the comfort of another human being
Meanwhile, in some unknown location...
"Bullshit~!" A woman devoured by the shadows of the large room spat teasingly as she leaned back in her seat. The darkness revealed a canister with protruding tubes attached to her back, holding a glowing purple liquid inside. "Your plan failed~! Admit it, Dr. Astor~!" She claimed in a loud manner, her voice echoing through the room. A lion tattoo was engraved on her neck and glowed with a reddish-purple hue. Every time she thought about the situation, nothing but rage filled her soul; she despised the fact the esteemed doctor couldn't finish the job of killing Destinee.
"You call it a failure? But I call it a discovery. As for my gauntlets, I am thrilled to see what Destinee can do with them." Cameron Astor replied while completing a Rubik's cube for the tenth time and looking up at his comrades. "As The Last Kings, we need more patience when it comes to opportunities to see Sins in action. For example, Everett has remarkable capabilities as a Sin of Lust. With a few intimate interactions, even intercourse, his Sin allows him to enhance the physical and sinful abilities of his allies. From the looks of it, if he wants someone to gain a boost, the enhancements that person will gain trespasses a threshold they could only dream of surpassing-" Cameron explained to the others before using his left hand to move his bangs away from his orange eyes which were covered by goggles. He was wearing a suit underneath the cloak.
"So, you're telling me you jeopardized the mission at hand because you wanted to test out that beta's Sin?" Another shadowed figure asked with a masculine grunt, his annoyance as clear as day. This large man was less worried about the gauntlets being snatched and more so about the fact that Destinee wasn't killed. "What a fucking disgrace..." He towered over everyone else in the room due to his height and wide build.
"Not quite," Cameron spoke as he continued to fiddle with the small Rubik's cube in his hand. He had completed over twenty times in the amount of time he had been speaking to the Kings. "You all accepted such a curse without trying to understand what makes it click, what makes it work the most optimally in battle before you suffer from the weight of your sins. As a scientist, studies should have been conducted on our Sins long ago so we could understand them. But alas, every one of you lacks the intellect to understand that. You are only good at the illicit activities you control, or should I say, you're controlled by these illicit activities. You use your unhealthy habits and addictions over your minds." Cameron finished, earning him silence from the other Kings in the room.
"What about you?" One of the Kings walked out of the shadows and revealed themselves to be a woman with brown hair adorned with blonde highlights. She was the slender woman dressed in a skintight outfit with large tubes attached to a canister on her back - the tubes had syringes at the end of them and were stuck into the woman's arms and legs. "You are an addict like the rest of us~. You value technology over human lives, Dr. Astor~." She pointed at Cameron, giggling at the stoic expression on his face. Her steel blue eyes narrowed slightly.
"That is where you are wrong, Calliope-" Cameron was cut off by a bullet flying past his head, but he didn't react, feeling it graze his cheek.
Calliope glared at Cameron, her bloodshot eyes narrowing as a wicked yet furious smirk curled on her lips. "Now, Cameron~. You KNOW I hate that name. Remember, it's Flakara~." She purred and lowered her handgun slowly, prepared to use it if he made the same mistake once more.
"ENOUGH..." A voice bellowed.
Each of the Kings turned their head to see a man in a hoodie slowly entering the room, his shadow moving on its own. His eyes glared through the darkness of his hood in a faint purple hue. "You let the bitches get away, Dr. Astor? So what? We should be looking at this from a bigger picture. Destinee is all about pride. It was shattered today. However, that won't stop her from coming back for me, but that means we'll keep breaking her down until she finally collapses." This man stood above The Last Kings. He was their Lord.
The Last Kings stared at him silently.
They wouldn't move unless he moved.
They wouldn't speak unless he allowed them to.
"Calliope. Come here." The Last Kings' Lord spoke while motioning for Calliope to approach him, which she quickly did with a sinister yet nervous smirk. She allowed him to use her real name. It was different when he said it.
Why?
Calliope feared this man like he was the Devil himself. When Calliope was within reach, the man wrapped his right arm around her waist and lifted her chin with his left hand so she could look into his hood. "As the youngest King, I cut you slack time and time again. Please don't make me regret that, Calliope. I don't want to punish you again. It's a waste of time. Understood...? Drop the gun." He demanded, pulling her body closer.
This caused Calliope to nod her head rapidly as she dropped the gun. She smirked insanely, but the nervousness was apparent in her expression. She trembled in his grasp. "O-Of course, Lord Satanael~! I promise~! You won't have to worry about me doing anything-" She was cut off by the hooded man placing his head against Calliope's and murmuring under his breath, "Good." He then released her after running a hand through her hair.
Satanael turned his head to the others in the room. "Proceed without me. Do not alter a single event we've discussed for what's to come. The more sinners you bring to their end, the more you will deliver to me..." The man turned around and left the room, deep laughter escaping his shadow, which shut the door behind its owner.
Cameron stared at Satanael as he departed and thought, 'That's why we need to understand these Sins...how will we ever overthrow such a strong force of nature who can use his Sin with no consequences...' His expression remained nonchalant, but his eyes expressed a deepened desire to understand his Sin...