Bad Company (Seven Deadly Sins #1) ✅ Completed

Chapter Twenty-Two: Armies Win Wars

Dawn wasn’t answering. I didn’t really trust her since I knew she sort of worked for Aunt Celeste. Or maybe it was more than that, maybe Dawn really did belong to my aunt and didn’t have any choice in the matter. Maybe all she could do was what Aunt Celeste ordered her to. I tried to let it go. I mean, what was she really going to do for me anyway? The poor girl was bound in the mirror, and from her appearance it looked like she’d been in there a long time. I couldn’t very well expect her to stroll out and jump on my team for some hero support.  

Still, something she said bounced around in my mind. What had she meant about there being others? Were there more like her, other souls trapped in mirrors by Aunt Celeste? God, even the thought of such a thing gave me the heebie-jeebies. Still, if she thought Dante could help me, I had to know how.

I turned back to the mirror in a final ditch effort to get a few last answers out of her. “Dawn! C’mon, I’m not mad at you, and I promise I won’t ask about the lame Jedi dude again. Tell me what you meant about Dante. How can he help me against my aunt?”

“She won’t come back and show herself again – at least, not while I’m standing here.”

I whirled at the sound of that voice that always seemed like a lover’s caress and a bucket of ice cold water dropped down the inside of my shirt at the same time. How did he do that? I hadn’t even heard him come in.   

Dante was standing there with a subway sandwich in one hand and looking at me with those perfect eyes. He leaned against the glass counter he’d broken, as he took a sip of his drink. “So, what did she tell you?”

“Uh…who?” I asked, trying to go for a little mystery. I wasn’t about to just tell him anything.  

Dante rolled his eyes skyward. “You know who. Don’t play the idiot with me, though in your case I’m not altogether sure you're actually playing.”

“Hey!" I protested. Really, there was no need to get all rude.    

Dante continued non-pulsed. “You can’t trust Dawn. Celeste owns her. She’ll only tell you what Celeste lets her tell you.”

“I sort of figured that one out on my own already,” I grimaced, happy that I was smart enough to connect the dots, but not smart enough to have done so before it was too late.

“Then you should also be able to figure out that I can’t help you either,” he said, unwrapping his sandwich.

Mmmm…meatball sub. The jerk. He’d only brought back one. Was it so hard to think about your fellow co-worker and get a girl a meatball sub? Maybe he’d pass over half of it if I looked hungry enough? Surely he wouldn’t eat the entire foot long by himself. 

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask,” I argued as I stared at his sandwich. I wondered if I could get it away from him and take a few bites before he went all crazy and smited me down or something.

“Oh, I know what you were going to ask me. I’ve heard it all before. So many times I could probably recite it word for word.” He didn’t even look bothered by that fact. If anything, he looked a little bored.

And a little wary – he got a firmer grip on his sandwich.

Smart man.

“God, Dante! What is your problem?” I said, irritated that he was being both unhelpful and unwilling to share his lunch.

How selfish could a person be?

“You’re my problem; you and everyone in this stupid little town. You’re all are my problem.” He practically inhaled half his sub in one bite.