I decided I should probably start with control in case I needed to take anyone's powers away. Especially Colby's if he got mad again.
"Control. Lilith grants permission to Lilith to utilize control to its full extent." I barely waited for the flash to finish before I moved on, to just knock them all out.
"Captivation. Lilith grants permission to Lilith to utilize captivation to its full extent. Speed. Lilith grants permission to Lilith to utilize captivation to its full extent. Desire. Lilith grants permission to Lilith to utilize desire to its full extent," I said, one right after the other, no longer waiting for my ears to stop ringing and the light to fade in between each one.
The effects slowly stopped, and I took a deep breath. I was glad that was over with. I decided I should probably go find Colby. If he was still mad, I was the only one who could calm him down.
"Sam," I Summoned.
"Yes?" he asked.
"How far can you Summon from?"
"Anywhere," he replied.
"Thank you," I answered. "I'll be back," I yelled out to everyone. I walked outside and got into my car.
"Colby," I Summoned. He didn't answer. "You better be dead or deaf. I know you can hear me."
"What do you want?" he grumbled.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"Would you just leave me alone right now?" he asked. I really wished my captivation and desire powers worked without having to physically see the person.
"No. Where are you?" I asked again.
"I asked you to leave me alone," he replied.
"And I said no. I don't enjoy repeating myself, Wrath. Where the fuck are you?" I asked. This was annoying. I didn't care that he was butthurt about the guys just teasing him. I knew he just felt overprotective of me, but I am quite capable of handling things myself.
"Nowhere," Colby said. That was it.
"So help me God, if you do not tell me right the fuck now, you don't get your powers. Not for a long, long time," I said.
"Fine. You win. As I'm sure you always do. I'll be there in a second," he said.
"Don't need the attitude either, bud," I replied.
"Yeah, yeah," he said. Except his voice sounded different now. More clear. I looked to my right to see him sitting in the passenger side of my car. Right. Short range teleportation. He hadn't even been more than 100 feet away. "Why am I here?" he asked.
"Because I asked you to be, and I am in charge here," I said. If he was going to be difficult, I was going to be hard on him. "Do you do that a lot? Just storm out when things don't go your way?" I knew I was pushing him again, making him angry. I wanted to know his limit. I knew he would take more shit from me than anyone else before he snapped.
"No," he said. I couldn't see his feet to tell if he was lying, but I realized I didn't have to.
"Look at me," I ordered. He rolled his eyes but turned to face me.
"Do you or do you not leave when things aren't going your way?" I asked again.
"I do not," he said. I do. I'd heard that in his voice, but it sounded distant and cloudy. Desire was working. I was reading his mind.
I reached up and slapped him in the face.
"What the FUCK do you think you're doing?" he screamed at me. Anger flashed in his eyes.
"I could ask you the same thing. What makes you think it's okay to lie to me?" I asked.
"I'm not lying!" he exclaimed. Because I don't want you to think less of me.
I slapped him again.
"Fuck you!" he yelled. He angrily got out of the car and stormed away.
"Hey! Get your ass back here!" I yelled, also getting out of the car. He whipped around to face me, already halfway down the driveway. He didn't come back, but didn't walk any further. "You need to grow up," I said.
"What did you just say to me?" he asked. I walked down the driveway and stopped about a foot away from his face.
"I said you need to grow up. You're not used to getting bossed around. You're used to calling the shots, having the final word. And now that you aren't top dog anymore, you are being a child. Everyone else in that house has been listening to you and been living under your rule for over two hundred years, correct?" I asked.
"Well, yeah," he said.
"Then it would be completely pathetic for you to have been holding them to expectations that you can't even meet yourself," I said, angrily pointing behind me at the house. "That is not what a leader does. A leader does not ask their followers to do something that they couldn't do themselves. Those people in there are literally a part of you and you are a part of them. And I'm a part of you guys now, too, and there is no longer The Seven. There is The Octet. Shit is going to change and I think at this point it's up to you as to whether that change will be for the better or for the worst, Wrath," I said. He didn't say anything, so I decided to listen to what he was thinking.
Please don't. Don't call me that. I'm more than that. I'm not just anger.
"Then prove it," I said.
"Prove what? I didn't even say anything," he said.
"Prove that you're more than anger," I replied.
"Whaâhow did you... wait, I thought you went home," he said.
"No. I was there the whole time," I said.
"Oh," he said. "Invisible?"
"Yeah, dude. Invisible. I was right there. I heard it all," I said.
You did it without me?
"I didn't need you to be there for it to work. I don't need your permission to do anything. Yeah, I did it without you. I activated all of mine. And Sam's persuasion," I said.
"Stop fucking doing that! Don't read my mind!" Colby said.
"Then stop lying!" I said back.
"You're completely unbelievable, you know that?" Colby asked, angrily pointing at me.
"You're just upset because someone is finally calling you out on your bullshit and holding you responsible for your actions," I said.
"For the love of...," Colby whispered angrily. He dropped the finger he'd been pointing at me and stepped up, grabbed my hips, and kissed me.
I was still mad at him for thinking he was better than the rest of them and that he found it unreasonable to be held to the same standards he'd been holding them to for the longest time. But feeling his fingernails dig into my sides with such hunger and passion and his lips moving against mine, it was physically impossible for me to pull away or not kiss him back.
A fire ignited in my chest again and it hurt. Really bad, actually, but I wasn't going to stop. I didn't care if it killed me.
"Hey there, big guy," I heard someone say. Colby and I broke apart and turned to see a guy walking in through the gate. "Oh, lord, sorry. I thought you guys were just standing really close to each other," he said, scratching the back of his head.
"Hey, man, no worries. How have you been, brother?" Colby asked. He walked over to the guy and gave him a bro hug.
"Good, good. Got everything sorted out in Texas," he said. "You must be Lilith," he said, looking at me. He walked over and held his hand out.
"Kevin, man, we use our personal names. I don't really enjoy being called Satan and I'm sure she doesn't love being called Lilith," Colby said.
"Right, sorry. I haven't been up here for very long. Still adjusting to the human form and everything. I'm Kevin," he said, shaking my hand.
"Jupiter," I replied.
"At long last." He turned to Colby. "Everyone inside?"
"Yeah, yeah. Go on in. We'll be in in a second," Colby said.
"Alright, thanks man," Kevin said, walking up to the door.
"Belial, right?" I asked.
"Yeah," Colby said. He cleared his throat. "Sorry about, uh...," he trailed off. I shrugged.
"Don't need to apologize, I certainly didn't have an issue with it. But I still mean everything that I said. If you don't want me to think that Wrath is all you are, then prove it. And don't you dare walk out and leave just because someone disagrees with you. It's personally reasonable to step out of the room for a minute to breathe, but not yell at everyone and storm out of the house," I said. He looked annoyed, but didn't disagree.
"Fine. Will you please stop reading my mind?" he asked.
"If you'll stop lying," I said. "You have another tell. If I see that, I'm reading right away."
"I do not have a tell!" he exclaimed.
"That's bullshit, but there's no way in hell I'm going to tell you what it is," I said. I turned around and walked inside, hearing his footsteps on the pavement behind me.