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Temptation.
The fragile weakness of every man and woman. It was up to Sansa to crush it, to cast it out of their mind before the craving became too much. But what happens when she experiences the same thing, when even her heavenly powers could not dissuade her from giving into sweet temptation?
A boy was in a corner gas with his friend, their hands rubbing over the endless array of chocolate bars and sweets near the back of the store. It was so easy to take it up and pocket it, pretend that no one watched them do the dirty deed. It could be a dare, a joke that they could laugh about once they exited the story. It was so easy…
“Don’t,” Sansa mouthed behind them, knowing they could hear her voice at the back of their heads. One boy rested his hand over the candy bar, but the other continued to slide his fingers back and forth over the smooth wrapper. “It’s not worth it.” Sansa crouched down to their level, inching her way closer until she stood between the two pre-teen boys. “You have the money, just buy it.”
One boy looked behind him, the one with the black New York Yankees baseball cap; he looked worried that someone was watching them, unaware that Sansa was but a step away. “Let's forget it,” he suggested to his friend, looking extremely nervous all of a sudden as his conscious grew louder in his head.
“You a whimp, Carter?” the other boy asked. This one was taller in stature and significantly larger than the nervous friend beside him. “Its just a chocolate bar, although I might get these sour keys instead.”
“Let’s get out of here.” Sansa straightened her back and began to circle them, knowing her powers could only go so far. She let a light finger brush over the back Carter's shoulder, hoping her angelic touch would be enough to keep his resolve. “Or if you really want it, then I’ll buy it for you.”
“Don’t be stupid!” the older boy replied and grabbed a handful of chocolate bars with a single hand.
Sansa stood in between the two boys with a commanding air about her. She raised a hand in front of the larger, rebellious boy’s chest and uttered, “Listen to Carter.” She could see the changing expression in the older boy’s eyes, a sign that he heard her earnest pleas to do the right thing. She was the voice of that boy's consciousness, like so many others, and her sweet-sounding voice had saved many lives- even souls from damnation.
Out of nowhere, a low raspy voice whispered: “Take as many as you want.” A voice she knew all to well, and Sansa immediately looked over her shoulder to see a man standing at the end of the aisle. Petyr, she thought, and if she wasn’t such a heavenly being she would have cursed at him. He was the thorn in her side, the man that continually got in her way. He was dressed in all black as usual, sleek and ever so refined in a pristine jet-black suit. The only shade to his outfit was at the sides of his temples, a gleaming grey that added to his elegant appearance. Petyr’s eyes were dark as ever as he approached her, giving her that ever so familiar smirk to agitate her further. “Sorry I’m late,” he hushed softly, enough to not disturb the two boys that were arguing in front of the candy section.
“They are young,” Sansa argued back. “Don’t let them go down the wrong path already.”
“The younger they are, the easier it is for me,” he pointed out with a genial-like smile. “But you know that already.”
Sansa stood protectively in front of the youngest boy, Carter, wanting to shield him from the silver tongue that Petyr unfortunately possessed. She could sense the desire seething through the man’s eyes, the dark wings that were tempted to unveil themselves before her.
“Let’s just go!” Carter pleaded. “I don’t want it anymore.”
“Well, I do,” the older boy argued back. “And I’m taking it.” A handful of sweets was stuffed into his baggy shorts, settling deep into his pocket with a satisfied grin. “This should last me the week.”
Petyr had the nerve to encourage his behaviour further, by adding, “Why not take some more?”
The older boy smirked wickedly at his friend and took another handful to put into his second pocket on the left side of his leg. “And you’re not having any,” he laughed, and then swiveled around sharply to walk down the candy aisle, walking right through Petyr's shadowy to get to the front door.
“You did the right thing,” Sansa entreated, as Carter stood there sullenly in front of the candy aisle. “It is a sin to steal.”
“Its not stealing,” Petyr interjected quickly. “And do you want to look like a loser in front of your friends?”
Sansa laid a protective hand over the young boy’s shoulder, positioning herself to block Carter from the demon’s view. “You are not a loser,” she soothingly related to the sad looking boy. “You are smarter than David.”
“Weak,” Petyr replied with an annoying dent on the side of his right cheek. The lop-sided grin grew wider once he saw how dejected the boy had become. “And he will never let it down if you don’t take it.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Sansa pleaded. “What will happen if you get caught?”
“Nothing,” Petyr stated in a smooth tenor. “They will let you go, since you are so young.”
“That isn’t true,” Sansa retorted. “They will get the police.”
Petyr walked around them in a tight circle, letting his hands rest over the front of his stomach as he carefully interlaced his fingers together. His steps were smooth, almost gliding across the dusty floor of the run-down corner store. “Like they will arrest a twelve-year old boy,” he jeered out with disdain, keeping his dark eyes upon Carter that was now rubbing the front of his chest nervously. “I know you want to take it.”
“No,” Sansa rebutted.
“I can see it in your eyes.”
“Go home, Carter.”
“Go home with a pocket stuffed with candy. You like this one, don’t you?” Petyr stopped to point at the bag of candy on the highest rack, a bag of fruit flavoured gummies that was always a weakness for the boy. “You can have it when you get home.”
“Carter, don’t!” Sansa remonstrated, once she saw how the boy eyed the bag of candy a little too hard.
“Do it.”
“Don’t!”
Petyr stood right beside Carter, laying a hand on the boy’s shoulder with steady grip. He leaned forward and whispered something into Carter’s ears, and that’s when Sansa knew she was losing him. She quickly stood in front of the boy, trying to block his angle so he couldn’t reach for the bag of gummies, but Petyr’s hand resting over the boy’s shoulder must have given him supernatural power to reach past her and take up the bag. “Good,” Petyr drawled out effortlessly in a dangerously raspy voice.
“There is still time to put it back,” Sansa reminded him. “Doing this won’t impress your friend.”
“Ignore her! Doing this will impress David,” Petyr retorted quickly. “And to impress him even more, why not take another?”
Sansa had enough, stomping her foot down to get the demon’s attention. “Haven’t you done enough?”
“Sansa,” he mouthed out carefully. “I’m only beginning with him.”
“I was here first!” she heatedly rebutted, hating that she was losing another soul to him again.
“As if that would hardly make a difference,” he snickered, before he turned his back to her and laid both of his hands on either side of Carter’s shoulders. “Let’s just walk to the front door, shall we? Nice and easy. Nothing too suspicious.”
“Carter, you will get caught,” Sansa rapped out, after she sprinted past the two of them to stand in front of the cash register. “You are not like David, it will be too obvious.”
“You are better than David,” Petyr encouraged him, while stroking his hands over Carter’s shoulders with a pleased air about him.
“Petyr!” she shouted out, knowing he wasn’t only making things worse for her. “He will get caught.”
“Will he?” The man questioned her, quirking his right eyebrow up to make her uncertain of the boy’s outcome. Sansa stood in front of the doorway, doing everything she could to stop the boy from walking past the cash register. She knew Carter could sense her there, that loud consciousness that was yelling for him to stop before it was too late.
A sound of a newspaper sounded through the store, a flipping of a page that caught the boy's attention. The man in front of the register was peering at him from over a thin grey page, his glasses slightly hanging down the bridge of his nose so he could get a better look. “Can I help you?” he demanded, sensing there was something wrong when Carter looked so nervous under his glare.
“I’m fine,” Carter said in a squeaky voice.
The man closed his newspaper carefully and then laid it down on the table in front of him. He rose to his feet, making his tall stature be felt even more when he stared down at the boy. There was a look of mistrust in his eyes, wondering why Carter kept his hands so deep in his pockets. “Have I seen you before?”
“Uhhh maybe.” Carter wanted to take his hand out of his pocket to scratch at his nose, but he knew if he made the wrong move the large bulge in his pockets would be see by the store owner.
“You sure your alright, kid?”
Sansa stepped away from the front door, approaching the nervous child as fast as she could. She knelt down on the floor, ignoring the looming shadow that Petyr had cast over her and the boy as she stated: “Carter, listen to me. Tell him the truth. He will understand.”
“Play it cool,” Petyr muttered from the corner of his lips. “Be a good boy, and he won’t suspect anything.”
“It’s not too late,” Sansa reminded him. “Its nothing he hasn’t seen before.”
“Imagine what David would think if you got caught?” Petyr taunted, and just like that the boy’s back straightened with a defiant air. It was like he took on another persona as he assured the store owner he was perfectly fine, and just like that Carter strolled out the store without the manager having any knowledge of what he had done.
Sansa watched the boy’s celebration, the way David pulled off his friends hat to put it on backwards so he could look cooler. A quick slug was pounded onto Carter’s shoulder for stealing the candy; it was an early form of initiation, a subtle invitation for the young boy to do it again.
“You’re insufferable!” Sansa shouted out, once she heard Petyr's low chuckle beside her. “You know it will lead him down the wrong path.”
“Don’t get upset at me for not doing your job.” He turned his head in her direction, giving her a slow once-over to take in her new dress. “You changed your appearance a bit, its too bad its still white.”
“I’m trying to blend in,” she reminded him. “Unlike you who wears the exact same thing everyday.”
“My outfit is timeless.” He smoothed his ringed fingers down his silk black tie, letting it go down to the end until he reached the first button to his waistcoat. “Rather like myself.”
“Your ego will be your downfall.”
“I’m not sure I can go much further.” He smirked at her unkindly. “Down, I mean.” Petyr turned his attention back to the two boys, watching them daringly sprint across the street even though they saw cars coming. “Another victory in my pocket.”
“Unbelievable,” Sansa huffed out, absolutely disgusted at the fact that Petyr had beat her once again. Normally her powers were effective, but ever since Petyr came into the picture her job had been much harder to do.
Petyr’s pristine-like dress shoes softly padded across the shabby floor, moving around her till he could block Sansa’s view completely. He smirked at her again, though it was a sadder one. “They will take away your job if you keep this up.”
“No thanks to you.”
“I have a proposition for you.”
“Go to hell!”
He tilted his head to the left whimsically, amused by her statement. “I’m already in it.” Petyr darted his eyes to the store manager, hearing the large yawn from the man in front of the register. “I’m wondering if it should wait until after him.”
“I don’t sense anything.”
“No?” Petyr taunted, and strolled in front of the countertop until he stood directly in front of the man. “Come, have a look.”
Sansa found herself listening to the demon’s instructions, too overwhelmed with curiosity to fight back her own common sense. She stood beside the dark cloaked man, noticing how he kept his gaze on the newspaper that hadn’t been flipped for some time. “What is it?” Sansa inquired, once she sensed the satisfaction from the man beside her. “What am I missing?”
“Your powers can’t see through it?”
“I see him reading a newspaper.”
“Then I will take that as a no,” Petyr replied in a low tenor. “Maybe I should give you my proposition after all?”
Sansa huffed at him, annoyed that he should taunt her day in and day out. She was good at her job, almost sure of it, but this man appeared out of nowhere to continually belittle her.
The store manager let a corner of the paper drop down, reaching for a half empty water bottle on the table beside him. Petyr leaned forward and rested his elbow on the corner of the table, keeping his head up as he watched Sansa and the man in front of him. “I do love when my job is easy.”
“He’s not doing anything,” Sansa rebutted. “You are just gloating, just to gloat.”
“You make a terrible angel,” he sneered. “You can’t even see what’s right in front of you.”
“A man reading a newspaper.”
“Wrong,” he quipped. “Gregory Hornton is a depressed divorcee.” Petyr casually nodded his head in the man's direction, pointing out how Gregory eyes focused a little to hard on the paper in front of him. “And he hasn’t had a fuck in months.”
“Oh,” Sansa mouthed out awkwardly, while her eyes darted away from the demon in front of her. There was something about the way he cursed, the slight change in his voice that caught her attention, and she wasn't pleased with the knowledge of her secretly liking it. “So, what he looking at then?”
“I’m sure you can figure that part out for yourself. The newspaper is obviously a disguise.” Petyr stopped when he heard the doorbell ring over the front door, and when a young woman came into the room the demon’s smile grew even wider. “Ahhh, a perfect opportunity.”
“For what?”
“Whatever Mr. Hornton’s heart desires,” Petyr replayed in a roguish sort of voice. “The world is his oyster, as they say.”
“She is too young.”
“The young one’s are the better ones.”
“Like you would know!” Sansa rapped out annoyingly, and then crossed her arms once she saw how Petyr’s eyes lingered too long on the beautiful dark-haired girl.
“Do I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice, Sansa?” His eyes flickered to the red-headed angel, watching her jaw drop in surprise. “Why, I haven’t even seduced her yet,” he teased, and with that final line he left her to go down the aisle after the young girl.
Sansa followed him reluctantly, knowing Petyr had the power to lure the girl into their darkest desires. She hated him for it, and she knew for a fact that she wouldn’t stand aside to watch it. Then why am I doing it, she wondered, after she saw the way Petyr was closely trailing her steps while his dark wings grew even wider by the second.
Sansa looked over her shoulder to see the store manager licking his lips a little too long, and then reaching for his water to guzzle it down. She sighed, knowing he would be a hard one to return to the light. The desires of his body were a hard one to control, and the depression, if Petyr was correct would add another obstacles to his salvation. She was about to go over to him, when she saw the way Petyr had trapped the girl in the aisle, whispering things close to her ear to bring her to his side. The store manager was instantly forgotten, she was storming down the aisle like no tomorrow to stop the tempting demon. “Leave her alone!” Sansa ordered, as if she had the will of God herself.
“Stop me,” he replied back with a charmingly smile, knowing it would get on her nerves.
“She isn’t interested.”
Petyr played with a lock of raven black hair, though the young woman couldn’t feel it. “Oh, I think Laura is very interested. Did you know she just had her heart broken, poor thing.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Hmmmm,” he murmured out with glee. “So many thoughts playing through my mind-”
“-and none of them are good.”
“No,” he chuckled darkly. “I’m not so saintly like you, but you already know that.”
“Petyr,” she scolded, as if she was his mother. “Enough.”
“Are you upset that you keep losing?”
“Let her go.” Petyr took a step back to let the woman pass by him, staring at her with longing as if he wanted to bring her back to his side. “You gain nothing from this?”
“I gain more than you will ever know,” he darkly replied, and his wings fluttered slightly as he walked towards her. It was true that no one could ever see them, and the wings were an illusion that only a fellow demon or angel could see, but Sansa thought they were wider on this man in front of her whenever he was near, as if he was showing off. “My proposition,” Petyr began. “Is that you acknowledge I will always win and… work by my side.”
Sansa gasped at his words, caught off guard by such a suggestion. “You want me to be like you?” she remonstrated, absolutely aghast at his words. “Never!”
“Think of it,” he related to her with a dead-pan expression. “Don’t give me an answer now, but only when you are ready.”
“I would never-”
“-no?” he questioned her. “How long will you tolerate losing to me?”
Sansa wanted to smack him in the face, but to do so would be a sin. She wanted to hurt him, make him pay for suggesting the idea. “I shouldn’t even be talking to you,” she reminded him. “This is what happens when I do.”
“Why do you acknowledge my presence then?”
“Because you keep taking them away from me?”
“Like Carter?” Petyr related with in a deep tenor. “Or the store manager, Gregory, that is ever so fond of his playboy magazine?” Petyr smirked at her wickedly. “He might even make a pass at the young, broken hearted woman.”
“Fiend,” Sansa uttered from the back of her throat. “You only make everyone's lives miserable.”
“Sweetling, I only make it better.” Sansa grimaced at the name he had given her, it was personal and intimate, and she didn’t like it one bit. “I can make your life better too,” he suggested lightly, and it was at that moment that she realized how closely he was standing in front of her. His eyes glanced over her radiant face, taking in the sheer whiteness of her skin and dress that was a stark contrast to his own. “I think we would work well together, Sansa, even if I like us being on opposite sides.”
“And it will stay that way.”
“For now,” he proposed. “But one day I promise you…” His face leaned into her, letting his mouth hover over her right ear. “I will be too irresistible to resist.”