"So...do we have powers now? Is that a thing that happened?" I asked.
"Yes. Well, I'm assuming so. We can't use them until you let us," Colby said.
"Let you?" I asked.
"Yeah, you have to give us permission to use them. You can take them away at any time, too. You're the one with the most trusted judgement, so if you think we can't handle or will misuse the power, you can take it away. Either permanently or temporarily. Or just never let us have them in the first place," he explained. I actually really loved that idea. If someone was pissing me off, they just wouldn't get their powers until they apologized. That'd be really fun to do.
"I made a list for you. That's why I was reading when you woke up, to learn about everything. There's a list for each of us with all of our details and powers and everything. I'm going to go let everyone else know you're awake. Here's this," Colby said. He picked up a few sheets of notebook paper and handed them to me, then left the room. I looked down at the papers and moved over to sit down at his desk and read.
ONE: LILITH: QUEEN OF HELL (Jupiter)
Urge: combined color
Ability: N/A, only applies to sins
Powers:
1. Invisibility; manipulate light and shadows around self to appear invisible at will
2. Speed; ability to move at an increased speed at will, 10x that of a human (yes, Jupiter, like a vampire)
3. Captivation; can hold anyone's attention/focus and not let them look away
4. Desire; can intentionally induce lust toward herself from any individual. Can convince someone through sight of them alone that they can trust her, encouraging them to let down their mental guard; use lust and seduction to read minds
5. Control; can provide or revoke members of The Octet with any of their assigned powers
Oh, god. Next page.
TWO: WRATH/SATAN: KING OF HELL (Colby)
Urge: blue
Ability: short range teleportation (approx. 100ft)
Powers:
1. Seduction; lure individuals in through lying/falsehood whether verbally or mentally. Convince anyone of anything. Physically alluring.
2. Wrath; can impose feelings of wrath onto other individuals; make anyone feel anything and feel it very intensely
THREE: PRIDE/LUCIFER (Tara)
Urge: pink
Ability: Strength
Powers:
1. Truth; can tell if anyone is lying or not. Can sense/know true desires or intentions behind any action/statement
2. Pride; can manipulate others to feel inferior to her thus encouraging them to listen to anything she says (cannot force anyone to do anything, only makes them want to; they are capable of resisting)
FOUR: GLUTTONY/BEELZEBUB (Devyn)
Urge: orange
Ability: control/force vocalization
Powers:
1. Mental possession; control the mind of another being while remaining in full mental and physical control of herself
2. Gluttony; can make someone feel the intense need to overindulge in something, whether it be a physical object or emotional concept
FIVE: GREED/MAMMON (Samuel)
Urge: yellow
Ability: small scale object manipulation
Powers:
1. Persuasion; forcefully persuade someone into temporary obsession with the intention of completing a task or retrieving an item for himself; won't stop until they've fulfilled intention
2. Greed; 'enslave' individuals to give or get him something he wants
SIX: ENVY/LEVIATHAN (Katrina)
Urge: green
Ability: small range temperature increase manipulation
Powers:
1. Full range total temperature manipulation; can make anything any temperature, hot or cold, to the point of combustion; can increase a being's internal/external body heat
2. Envy: can make anyone intensely jealous of another to the point that it induces hatred; can also completely eliminate any jealousy between two or more things
SEVEN: SLOTH/BELPHEGOR (Corey)
Urge: purple
Ability: temporary appearance manipulation
Powers:
1. Full scale shape shifting; can turn into any living being form for any amount of time
2. Sloth; can curse someone with temporary laziness/procrastination/lack of motivation
EIGHT: LUST/ASMODEUS (Jake)
Urge: red
Ability: control/force physical movements
Powers:
1. Sexual manipulation; can temporary change one's sexuality preferences
2. Lust; can increase/decrease amount of desire one being feels toward anything, whether it be an object or another being
The Order of The Octet:
Urges cannot be used on each other.
Summons can only be used amongst each other.
Members of Octet cannot use powers/manipulation on each other, excluding the king and queen. (Yes, Jupiter, that means we can use our powers on anyone. Except I can't use mine on you)
I set the pages down and rubbed my eyes. Wow. That was a lot. I had five powers. Everyone else had one random power like me and one based off of their sin. We could all Urge other people, we could all Summon each other.
Colby and I could use our powers on literally anyone that existed, except he couldn't use his on me. I could use mine on him. I could take away someone's powers, but not their abilities. No one's powers would work on me. I was essentially immune to all of this. God damn.
How did Summoning work? Could I just try it? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I focused on Colby.
"Colby," I said at a low volume.
"Jupiter?" I heard him say. I opened my eyes and jumped a bit. It sounded like he was right next to me, a foot away. But I was still alone.
"Um, yeah, hi," I Summoned.
"Well I'll be damned. You taught yourself," he Summoned back. "Usually takes a minute to learn and teach."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess I figured it out. I'm all done reading."
"Come on downstairs, then," his voice replied.
I used the hair tie on my wrist to put my bright hair into a messy bun so it'd stop rubbing against my sensitive scab. I also tied Colby's shirt in a knot at the bottom so that it was more of a crop top now, revealing Dev's black spandex I'd changed into nearly a week ago. I neatly piled the papers together and brought them with me downstairs, finding everyone hanging out in the kitchen and living room. The girls were eating strawberries in the kitchen and talking with each other while the guys were all getting aggressively into a video game that Jake and Corey were playing against each other. I caught Colby's eye when I walked downstairs and he flashed me a smile.
"Oh! Jupiter! Come here," Kat said. I tore my eyes away from Colby and walked past the living room into the kitchen.
"Hey, guys," I said, joining them. Dev handed me a strawberry.
"Thanks for not dying, we really appreciate it," Dev said.
"I tried my best," I chuckled.
"So who are you going to give them to first?" Tara asked.
"Tara!" Kat exclaimed.
"Like you don't want to know, too," Tara shot back.
"Give what?" I asked.
"Powers. You can't give them to everyone at once. One of us gets them first," said Tara.
"Obviously, you have to do yourself first in order to unlock the ability to control ours. But after that," Kat said.
"Oh, how do I unlock mine?" I asked.
"Just give yourself permission," Dev said.
"Huh?" I asked.
"Name the power out loud and say that Lilith grants permission toâinsert demon name hereâutilize said power to its full extent. You can only unlock one power at once, since you have to say it specifically, but you can do them all in a row," said Tara, biting into a strawberry. "Let's see it."
I swallowed and stared at them. I was just standing in a kitchen with some people I'd just met and now they were looking at me, waiting for me to unleash my powers. What the fuck even is life at this point?
"Uh, okay," I said shakily. "Should... should Colby be in here, or...?"
"Nah, sis. You don't need a man. You're the ruler here. He is, too, but you're just a little higher up than he is. Go for it," said Tara.
"Alright," I said nervously. What was my first power called? I looked down at the top piece of paper in my hands. Invisibility. I cleared my throat.
"Invisibility. Lilith grants permission to... Lilith to utilize invisibility to its full extent," I said, repeating what Tara said and plugging in the gaps.
My ears started to ring and my field of vision was overtaken by a flash of light, that same pulsating color that the pentagram had been, that my Urge is. What was it called? Combined color, yeah. The light only lasted for a second and when I got my vision back, my ears stopped ringing. I blinked a few times to bring everything back into focus.
The three girls were still standing there, casually eating strawberries like nothing had happened. Except I bet that to them, nothing did.
"Okay, now turn invisible," Tara said.
"Whâyou say that like you're telling me to snap my fingers or touch my toes. How the fuck do I just 'turn invisible'?" I asked. I was annoyed that they acted like this was such a lowkey kind of thing, but remembered they'd had abilities and been Urging for literal centuries.
"You'll be able to just do it automatically without even thinking about it eventually. But for right now, just close your eyes and focus on something that makes you feel really strongly," Kat said.
"It doesn't have to be a good thing, either. Just something that overwhelmed your feelings. Anger, sadness, love, passion, whatever," said Dev. I nodded and closed my eyes. I tried to think of different stuff, but only one thing crossed my mind. Colby. I thought about the way he'd sat in his room when he couldn't see me, how he'd paced back and forth talking to himself for almost an hour trying to calm himself down enough to come talk to me.
I smiled when I remembered the way he'd talked to Sam about getting nervous to go find me, how embarrassed he'd gotten when he realized I was in the room.