Avarice Read online

  Except it still wasn’t easy to admit. She had loved Marissa. Lived with her. Planned to marry and have a family with her. How could Mercy admit that the woman never loved her back? I feel like a fool. The most pathetic kind.

  “This is a hard road you walk right now.” Avarice extended her hand toward Mercy’s. Their flesh made contact on the small table between their seats. It was a touch of pity. Assurance. A promise that better things would come. “But that’s why we are here. To help you on your heavy journey.”

  Mercy slightly grimaced. “By having sex with me.”

  “Physical connections are as old as humanity. What, you want to drink a potion? Go through a ceremony with smoke and incense? Why do that when we can celebrate one of life’s most mystical pleasures? I was under the impression you liked sex. So what’s the problem?”

  “You could say that again,” Mercy muttered. I don’t just like sex right now. I need it to exist, and it sucks. If Avarice was here to share a new sin with her, maybe it meant her brain wouldn’t be so obsessed with sex, sex, sex. She could live with that. Hell, she invited it! “So… how do we do this?”

  Avarice withdrew her hand, placing it against her flushed cheek. “Mm? How do we do what?” She chuckled. “If this is your attempt to seduce me, I’m not convinced it’s your best.”

  Mercy didn’t know what flustered her more. Was it Avarice teasing her? Or was it the arousal still dominating her every thought? I wish it would go away. At first, she thought it was better than the dark depression wrapping its needless hand around her heart. Was this really better, though? She was no longer her own person. When she was depressed, she could at least say she was herself. Everything she felt was organic. A product of something disastrous, but an organic conclusion, nonetheless. Now? She was possessed. Touched by a spirit.

  “I don’t really know what’s going on anymore,” Mercy confessed. “Look, I don’t mean to push you to hurry this up or anything, but my pelvis is about to explode in the burning need to hump you. It sucks.”

  Avarice clicked her tongue with mock pity. “I’m truly sorry to hear that, Mercy, but it’s not the first time I’ve shown up to see what my sister has left behind for me to clean up. I will warn you. This isn’t as simple as me alleviating the lust you now feel. After all, I am no different from my sister. Accepting my blessing will give you more sin. The idea is that as we gradually come to visit you, you will be restored to how you were before the darkness came. The shadows robbed you of what made you human. We are not here to shine lights and scatter the shadows. We are here to give you back that which you have lost.”

  “All right, so…” That barely made any sense. Probably because Mercy was choking on desire. The more time she spent around this warm-lit beauty, the more she looked forward to the time they would spend together. But it had to happen now. Preferably before Flora returned, hellbent on taking Mercy to bed before any deity had the chance.

  Poor Mercy probably wouldn’t know who to go with. My approach these past few weeks has been to go with the new blood… that way, they are less likely to get hurt. Avarice wasn’t human. Yet before Mercy could ponder what form these goddesses truly took, her empty thoughts were interrupted.

  “My mistress Acedia is looking forward to your completed treatment, Mercy.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Avarice’s smirk was as divine as the light shimmering on her ethereal clothing. “As my sister told you, we are but her avatars. Reflections of her gift. Pieces of her own soul. For me to be sitting before you now, my mistress who gives me life must slumber. Yet she sees us, and she knows you better than any of my sisters could. You are truly blessed, Mercy. Remember that.”

  “I… I suppose so.”

  When Mercy thought Avarice would bestow her with another touch – or, dare she believe it, a kiss from those pumpkin-spiced lips – they were instead disconnected. The deity stood upon two ladylike feet no person, mortal or godlike, could witness beneath that long and wispy skirt. People continued to walk by, some laughing, others flirting. Even the solo men and women who looked in their direction held little to no interest in the gorgeous creature blessing them with her greedy aura.

  They must have felt her, though. If Mercy felt this deity’s heart beating beneath sinew, then everyone else must have felt it, too.

  “You should go home before you make a grave mistake,” Avarice said to Mercy. “If you leave now, I can guarantee you safe passage.”

  “You mean we’re…”

  “Soon.” Avarice pressed her plump lips together. “If you can save your strength for me, then I promise it will be worth your while.”

  Within a single blink, she was gone. Mercy sat by herself in the corner of the room, the remnants of orange glitter twinkling between the chairs and raining upon the heads of those who continued to pay her no mind. Flora, who had been moderately obsessed with Mercy only ten minutes ago, continued to walk by as if her intended were not there.

  This was Mercy’s chance to make her escape without being disturbed. For some reason, she knew she must leave now. Only by returning home could her healing continue.

  Why was it so hard, though? Why did she struggle to peel herself out of her chair and survive the march back to her car? Even behind the driver’s seat, where the heater warmed her chilly bones and the radio broadcast told her of the bad news in the world, she couldn’t imagine going straight home. Not with somebody in the passenger seat next to her.

  She told herself that there would be somebody new waiting for her. It may not be Avarice, but it may be the cool, white light of a grand goddess who was completely invested in Mercy’s healing process.

  As gorgeous as Lust and Avarice had been, a part of Mercy rather hoped she would see the angel that had saved her life.

  4

  The night enshrouded Mercy’s neighborhood when she arrived home. As she parked her car and let out a mighty sigh that did nothing to alleviate the butterflies in her stomach, Mercy said a silent prayer to whatever deity may be listening that she survived the night. A part of her may have been afraid to fall asleep to nothing but chaos in her mind – and her body.

  She finally approached her front door, key in hand. The automatic light turned on above her. A figure was briefly illuminated in her house.

  She should have been more frightened as she unlocked her door and stepped inside. Just because she had a feeling she knew who had come to call, did not mean she expected to see…

  Whatever the hell this was!

  Her house was ransacked. Or at least it sure as hell looked like it. Papers and flowers were left strewn across the floor of her front hallway, leading into the living room, where shelves were overturn and books fell out of their cases. Mercy rushed into the kitchen where every drawer and cupboard was opened, save for the fridge – and when she opened that, behold, half of her food was gone!

  “What the flying fuck?” Burglars! Lots of them! Mercy whipped out her cell phone, prepared to call the police.

  Something thumped upstairs. Mercy froze in place.

  They were still here! Still robbing her shit!

  Rage! For the first time in so long, Mercy experienced true rage. She picked up a knife from the kitchen counter and bounded upstairs, the irrational side of her intent on stabbing a burglar to pieces. If only she had her bat…

  She didn’t get two steps toward her bedroom when an orange light blinded her.

  “Shit!” Mercy dropped the knife and covered her eyes. A familiar voice cooed from the master bedroom.

  “What lovely items you have, Mercy! Ooh! Jewels! Ah! This expensive perfume! I can have it, yes?”

  The light faded. Mercy slowly opened her eyes, and followed a trail of orange fabric into her bedroom.

  Avarice stood in her orange two-piece gown, surveying Mercy’s vanity and spraying perfume into the air. She admired diamond earrings in the mirror. That bun of hair perched atop her long face was encrusted with tiny crystals that hadn’t been there in the lounge. Me
rcy would have remembered. Probably because those were her tiny crystals she had last worn to Marissa’s birthday party!

  Avarice’s long limbs, enshrouded in the hypnotic yards of orange silk and patches that had also eluded Mercy’s eye only an hour before. Avarice twisted, fabric twirling around her legs and expanding across the floor. From the way she looked at the items on Mercy’s vanity, she was far from thinking about her own appearance.

  “Excuse me!” Mercy stepped into the room, but dared not advance on the crazed goddess with large, dilating pupils that threatened to absorb every item in the room. “What the hell are you doing? That’s my shit!” She didn’t have much since Marissa left with half of the house’s possessions, but Mercy was not in the mood to lose what little she had.

  “Hm?” A golden glow illuminated that bemused complexion. Wide, whirling eyes stared at Mercy as if she were not really there. “Oh. It’s you.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Mercy stopped halfway across the room. “God, no, you’ve lost your damned mind. What is it with you weirdos and wrecking my house? Is this why you told me to meet you here? So you could get off on… put that down!” Avarice held a plain gold chain a little too close to her lips for Mercy’s liking.

  “You were supposed to be home a little earlier.” Avarice held up a silver watch for inspection. “I got bored. Distracted.”

  “I’ll say! The fuck are you doing?” Also, Mercy had gone straight home. Except for that trip to the gas station because her light was flashing on the dashboard. Popping inside the convenience store to get some chocolate bars and an energy drink. So, maybe it had taken a few extra minutes…

  Avarice kicked a sack out from behind Mercy’s bed. Brown, burlap, hardly fashionable… but full of items. Mercy’s items! Cutlery, silver, books, stuffed animals, knick-knacks, jewelry, combs, and… were those her prescription pill bottles?

  “Collecting.” Avarice tossed the watch into the burlap sack. It crinkled atop one of Mercy’s old stuffed animals.

  “Excuse you? Those are mine.” Mercy still couldn’t believe it. Mr. Tickle Bear, her best friend when she was five, stuffed in there with fine china and the TV remote.

  Avarice peered into her bag as if she were a new mother gazing upon her newborn child. “Not anymore,” she sighed.

  Mercy snatched the snack into her hand. Avarice grabbed it back, growling at this mere mortal who dared to defy her.

  “You turn your back for one second, and you think someone won’t take what is theirs back?” The sack snapped out of Mercy’s hands. “What Avarice wants, she takes!”

  “Who? Oh, I’m sorry, did you mean Ms. Greedy Pig?”

  Orange fabric tossed into the air as the woman spun with maniacal fanfare. “I, Avarice, the most coveting of the Seven Sinners. Give me your tokens, and I’ll be on my way!” Her spinning slowed, hands clutching the fabric of her dress as she tossed a kiss and a wink in Mercy’s direction.

  “You’re robbing me.”

  “I like to think of it as taking an upfront payment for the blessing I am to bestow.”

  “Blessing? Turning me into a greedy shit like you?”

  “Greedy? How dare you say it with such an unflattering sneer.” Avarice dropped the sack, Mercy’s belongings spilling out of it. “I’ll have you know that without greed, as you so bluntly put it, we wouldn’t have half the great things in this pitiful, mortal world. Drive! Ingenuity!” Orange arms rose into the air like a preacher at the pulpit. As she spoke, Avarice’s aura brightened to blinding proportions. “If no one was ever greedy for anything, there would be no advances in society!”

  Mercy rolled her eyes. “I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, but that’s why we have laws about greed. You can’t steal people’s shit and take their ideas. It’s unethical.”

  “Have you forgotten the whole point of sinning?” Avarice’s white teeth were sharper than claws. “Sinning doesn’t care about rules or laws. It only cares about indulging itself and making you one of its own.”

  “Maybe I’m not interested in turning into someone like you.”

  A pause commenced. Then, Avarice threw back her head and cackled, its echo draining the walls of Mercy’s bedroom. The undulation of her throat brought with it more than a few shudders to Mercy’s weakening legs. “Like you didn’t want to turn into my sister, Lust? Oh, wait, you did! Now look at you! So horny that you touch yourself in public toilets. I’m the joke? Honey…” Avarice tossed her hand against her shoulder. “Haven’t you heard of this little thing called balance? Why do you think I was sent to you so soon after my venerable sister? Keep going at the rate you are, and you’ll embarrass yourself beyond repair.”

  Anger shook Mercy’s shoulders. “What do you propose I do, huh? I had no idea when I had sex with her that I would turn into a goddamn nymphomaniac!” She said it so loudly that she hoped the neighbors didn’t hear. They once heard her altercations with Marissa not so long ago. “Now you want me to turn into you? You’ve got to be joking!” Mercy would end up in jail before the end of the following week.

  “I don’t joke about coveting.” Avarice stepped over the abandoned sack and draped herself across Mercy’s bed. Orange bled across the bedspread. “Besides, it’s not about turning you from one thing into another. Like I said, it’s about balance. Right now, your body is consumed by too much of one thing.” She wrinkled her nose. “That hussy’s own fault, since she said she couldn’t contain herself. She told us about messing around with you when you came home that night. Sounds like she really did a number on that poor pussy of yours.”

  Mercy balled her hands into fists. “You’re all talking about me, too?”

  “There isn’t much to talk about where we’re from. We sit around for ages looking for something to do. It’s been forever since we had an assignment. Acedia is slacking. All we get to do is swap stories and fall asleep for centuries.”

  Mercy was speechless.

  “Look, sweetheart, I’m not going to turn you into the next great cat burglar, although that would be hilarious. My job is to give back the gift of greed. I’m sure you recall it.”

  “Somewhat.” Greed was hardly a foreign concept. Didn’t everyone know what it was? Although, Mercy had to admit that after Marissa, she didn’t feel much of anything. Aside from her pulsing libido now.

  “The more sins you accept into your body, the more balanced they will become. Right now, lust is driving you crazy. Well and good, since you have to fuck me to get your sin.”

  Mercy scoffed. “You know, back in the club, I was into it. Now? I’m not so sure. You’re kinda on my bad side now.” Mr. Tickle Bear did not look happy in his sack. Who was going to clean up her house? It was a mess!

  “Are you sure about that? Really sure? Because from what I understand, you’ll fuck anyone right now.” To prove her point, Avarice turned onto her hips and drew up her orange skirts. Legs, bare and pleasing, tangled with the fabrics in Mercy’s view. That cunning smile on the deity’s face implied she was doing it to fuck with Mercy.

  It worked. Seeing a woman like that… a beautiful, charismatic woman, no less… exposing this hint of flesh… implying she was ready and willing… Mercy turned away before the heat of lust could overtake her. Deep inside her gut she felt that knowing burst of sexual desire. Mercy’s inability to find attraction in Mercy’s character was losing out to the sin infused into her from Lust’s own loins.

  “Oh, you want me.” Avarice laughed again, her left leg tossing over the right. “But do you desire my sin?”

  Although Mercy wanted to sit on the bed, one thing held her back. Fear. She was afraid of becoming too desirous of Avarice, of her soft skin and enticing limbs that appeared prime for caressing Mercy’s body. If she had half the spirit of Lust, Mercy was in trouble. “Greed is a terrible thing,” she finally said.

  Avarice’s bemused smile turned into a scathing frown. “I get a lot of grief, that is for sure.” A delicate foot kicked into the air. Mercy gulped when she saw the ins
ide of Avarice’s thigh. “People are starting to accept their lustful desires. It’s trendy now to love yourself, and people have so much to eat. Admit you’re greedy, though? You are a pariah. What people don’t want to admit about themselves is that greed is as important as any other sin. It’s a part of what makes you a well-rounded mortal. Without greed, you would have no ambition.”

  Mercy matched the deity’s frown. “I don’t follow.”

  “Of course you don’t. Nobody puts those two things together, but it’s true. Think about it. What makes you, or anyone, want to succeed? It’s not the same as envy, which also drives people to succeed… but greed is the base desire shared among all people. Simply wanting food, wanting money of any amount… that’s greed. The negative connotation comes from the perception that you’re taking away from someone else. In a sense, that is true.” Avarice shrugged. “Your greed for your cushy job in a soulless company meant you shoved someone else out of the way to get it. You could have been noble and stepped down so someone else – maybe someone more deserving – could have it. Except that act is greedy, too. It means you covet self-righteousness. Really, which is more obnoxious?”

  “I already have drive.”

  “Oh? What do you covet, Ms. Devereux?”

  “I… I covet lots of things.” Mercy did, once. The whole reason she was in her stupid job was because she desired the cushy lifestyle that ascending the chain of command in her company afforded. Good savings. Healthcare. Stability. Avarice was right… Mercy did knock someone off the track to get her job. She recalled her well. A woman from a more destitute background. Two children to feed. No husband or other family to support her. She was as qualified as Mercy, but in the end, Mercy always suspected she got the job because she was childless and less of an insurance burden on the company. They were greedy, too.