Page 3 of Lust
Mercy nearly choked again. “There are more of you, huh?”
“There are nine aspects. Or perhaps you could call us the nine avatars. We have gone through many iterations beyond the ages. Once upon a time, myself and my aspects were called the Avatars of Acedia. Except that’s not quite correct, either. I can be many people at once. Many thoughts. Many aspects, of course, but it is difficult for a mortal like you to understand. You are trapped inside your own head. You cannot escape into others. You cannot see through the eyes of your own sister like I can.”
“Yeah. That definitely doesn’t make any sense.”
“The easiest thing to say is that we nine are comprised of myself and my sister. Then there are the Seven Sinners. They are my avatars. They do not exist without me. Soon, they may be a part of you. If you will let us help you.”
“That’s… great.” Mercy freed herself from Acedia’s grasp, landing on the hill with a triumphantthump.Another stick dug into her ass. “Why are you bothering me, again?”
Acedia followed Mercy down the hill, although she did not trip into holes or slide down wet patches of grass like Mercy. Of course not. Wasn’t that unbecoming of agoddess?Instead, Acedia glided, her ivory aura leaving behind trails of lovely light where her feet once supposedly stepped. “I make it my business to look for the kind of woman who once sought my aid. Lest they fall into the hands of my sister after their deaths.”
Mercy stumbled over bramble and landed, hands extended, at the bottom of the hill. Her car keys fell out of her pocket and reminded her that her vehicle was parked on the side of town. Probably. She couldn’t remember how far away she was from the bridge anymore. “What kind of woman is that?” Mercy followed the nearest trail leading toward the road.
“Sad women. Needy women. Soulless women.”
“I’m a bit beyond sad.” Mercy wouldn’t touch soulless.Like goddamn, lady. Thanks.
“I see that,” Acedia said behind her. “It is my fault that I waited so long to intervene.”
Mercy pivoted in the dirt, facing that gliding woman in white for the first time. “I didn’t ask for you to intervene, lady. Stay away from me!” Mercy took off down the trail, heart thumping and hair flying behind her head.
“You did ask.”
Acedia’s voice was right in Mercy’s ear. She stopped, hands on her knees and breath knocked from her chest. “When did I ask, huh?” This was ridiculous. Actually, it wasway pastridiculous. A goddess, for fuck’s sake! What kind of sad dream was this? “I don’t recall praying to anyone or anything in the past twenty years.”
“I heard your pleas in your heart, Mercy. So did my sister, whom you would have seen instead of me should you have gone through with your tragic deed.”
“Your sister, huh? Is she a meddling asshole, too?”
Acedia withdrew into the shadows. Only then did Mercy realize how much light the so-called goddess claimed. “My sister has a dire role to play in the cosmos, yes. Surely, you have heard of the seven cardinal sins?”
“I may have heard something once.” Here came those churchy memories again. Memories of Mercy’s mother dragging her to the pews to listen to brimstone, hellfire, and the deadly sins that would take them there. “How the hell do I get back to my car? How do I gethome?”Fuck that. How did she wake up from this nightmare?
Acedia continued to follow her, always a few feet behind, but not far enough that her aura could not extend toward Mercy. “You need our help,” she said. “There is so much sadness inside of you, that if you do not learn to overcome and reclaim your vices, you will…” Acedia’s words faded with the passing breeze.
Mercy spotted what miraculously looked like her car not too far away. Right there in the parking lot pressed up against the boundary of the park.You have got to be kidding me.This was how a woman subverted her dreams, all right. The closer she got to her car, the more she saw the rust. The dents. The terrible gas mileage.
“I’m not joining some church, sorry.” Religion had lost all appeal to her. Some two decades ago. Maybe three. How old was she, again?
“We have no church. Or temple. Nothing like that.” Acedia followed Mercy all the way to her car, standing behind her while keys fumbled into the lock. “We will come to you.”
The door finally opened. Mercy slumped into the driver’s seat. “Great,” she mumbled. “I can’t wait to have a bunch of home invaders after a day like today.”
She started up the car and didn’t bother to look when pulling out of the parking space. The last thing Mercy saw as she turned down the road was a faint white light disappearing among the trees.
Once she knew she was truly alone again, Mercy cried, allowing her tears to hit her hands as they maneuvered the steering wheel. What a shitty dream, indeed. All she needed now was the Devil himself to rise through the pavement and claim her forhisclan.
Either way, Mercy was bound to wake up. That was the only solace left for her broken, embittered heart.
2
Mercy awoke with a terrible start.
Terrible not because it frightened her, but because it alerted her to the raging headache killing her from the cranium.
“Mother. Fucker.” Mercy attempted to roll over, but her whole body was made of dead weight. Every time her finger twitched or her crusty eyes fluttered, she was treated to a wallop of pain that broke her spine and crushed her pelvis. But, mostly, it shot a bullet right into her skull.
She wished she could say that was the worst. Such an honor went to thesmell.As soon as Mercy opened her eyes for more than a few seconds, she noticed that she was still wearing the simple department store pantsuit she had been wearing the day before. Only now it was imbued with sweat and God-knew-what. Had she bothered to get beneath the covers? No. Of course not. That was crazy talk!
