Chapter Twenty-Nine: Sloth

"Who are you?" Holly demanded as the thing blinked at her.

The sloth took it's time blinking at her. "I'm the one that is going to ask you questions. You just answer them."

Holly stared at the animal. Did it think it was threatening her? It was a sloth. It wasn't exactly the most dangerous animal she'd bet. Even Eros in his cabbit form would be able to beat this.

"You're underestimating me, aren't you?" the sloth questioned with its warm honey-like voice. "I want to ask you about Lust."

"Eros?" Holly blinked. That she hadn't expected. And there was something else too. She leaned forward as she inspected the sloth. "You're a girl!"

"Yes, what is your relationship with Eros?" There was a grunt to her voice now. "Tell me, stop stalling."

"Do you like him?" the honey voice was a bit sour now.

"He's been there for me as long as I can remember. He means a lot to me. Though," she paused and looked away. "I think he's upset with me right now."

The crimson eyes narrowed. "Why? What did you do to him?"

Holly hadn't been scared of sloths before. She'd have thought it silly to be. But staring into those eyes that sparkled with flames, she was. "I didn't choose him," she whispered.

And why was she telling this animal all this anyway? Why did it need to know about all this?

"Choose him for what?" each question was spoke between bared teeth. "If he's shed one tear, I'll tear your heart out and eat it."

Holly's heart skipped. "Excuse me?" she whispered. "I thought you were just another of the magical animals sent to help me. Not threaten to pull out organs and eat them."

Should she scream for Dagon? Her opponent was a sloth so theoretically she should be able to outrun it, but those eyes were making her have doubts.

"You thought I was here to help you?" the sloth snickered into its paw. A motion that was much faster than it had moved before.

"Ah, you noticed that huh?" She giggled. "Yeah, I'm a bit faster than I look. Lust won't talk to me. He's ignored me since I woke up."

She was a sloth.

Holly could have smacked herself. "You're the sin," she whispered. This was the creature she was supposed to defeat!

But no one told her it was going to be an animal. There was no way in hell she could kill an animal.

"I'm the sin," she nodded. "Sloth, obviously. Are you really that dumb you didn't put that together sooner?"

She smirked. "Or is it because I'm a female? In any case, my threat is still legitimate. If you made him shed a single tear, I will devour you."

"You'd rather me just accept everyone?" Holly demanded. "Do you know how many guys appear to like me at this point?" she huffed.

"There's no way. I've made my choice, and if that pisses you off, well I'm sorry. Eros is a close friend and I won't hurt him on purpose, but I won't let you bully me into a relationship either."

"Bully you?" The sloth rolled her eyes.

"I'm not going to bully you. I'll kill you. Why do you think I created this world? I wanted to see who my darling brother was so infatuated with. You've thrown our entire family for a loop."

"You're not talking about me," Holly shook her head. "You're talking about the previous owners of this soul."

"So?" The sloth scoffed.

"I don't care if it's previous owners or the current one. He loves your soul. He let himself be reborn and interfered with my grand plan . He's entwined himself around you so I couldn't separate you as I planned. My original idea was to kill you while you were a child. Before any of your guardians woke up."

"But my life isn't even real," Holly said. "You just said you created this world. That means my life is fake too. All my memories, all fake, right?"

"Everything but Eros. He's been with you since you came here. He even made you an adult as soon as you entered this world. I compensated the best I could, but he stopped my plan before I could even get started. It's all his fault that I'm in this situation. So, I had to meet you. I had to know who is this mysterious one that has his affections."

"And?" Holly challenged.

She was in danger. If this Sin ever used their powers against her, she'd be doomed. Her magic couldn't save her in this situation, not with as fast as this thing could apparently move.

"And what?" the sloth barked out. "And I find this laughable? And that I think you're not worth even an iota of his devotion. And that I'm going to kill you here and now."

She paused and glanced at the door. "I do have to thank Eros for one thing though. With him being around, no one else noticed the appearance of another Sin. They just sense him. Not even Dagon will notice this."

"I'm not just going to die for you. I'll scream," Holly challenged.

"So scream," the sloth demanded as she lunged at Holly's throat.

The force of the body against her stunned Holly for a moment.

Her eyes watered as she tried to scream but no noise would erupt. The sloth grew in size before her eyes.

At first the size of a cat, and then the size of the desk, and then it was as if a washing machine was crouched on her chest with claws pressed against her heart.

Holly shook her head.

The sloth smiled as it leaned down to whisper into her ear. "I win."

"Yeah, I don't think so," interrupted a voice.

The sloth didn't move. Instead, her claws sank into Holly's chest.

A golden light slammed into the sloth and knocked it into the wall, and then through it.

The figure shrunk back to its original size and shook its head with a paw to it. "What'd you go and do that for? I was about to finish her."

The black cabbit snorted. "Because I'll always protect her," he answered with his golden eyes narrowed. "I'll never let you Sins get your greedy hands on her."

"We're greedy for wishing to live?" the sloth snorted. "Lies. You appear as a cabbit, that's the same as my darling brother. Why?"

"Another cabbit?" the black beast tilted its head to the side and its ears flopped over. "Who?"

The door that had been locked splintered into pieces as Dagon tore it off its hinges. "What's going on?" he demanded his eyes scanning the room. "You!" he roared at the Sin.

"You going to pull my heart out too?" she demanded. "Just shove a clawed hand through my chest? I know what you did to Envy."

Dagon didn't even blink. "Only what he deserved. If he was still alive I'd only kill him again and again. Envy dared to try to kill the woman I loved. He toyed with her to inflict as much pain as he could on her. I stopped him."

He pointed to her. "And I'll stop you. After all, I created you."

Instead of shivering in fear the sloth chuckled.

"You think it's that easy?" she demanded.

"Smart one, think about this for a minute. This world is my creation, your beloved hasn't truly been born again, not yet. I interfered and stole her soul to this world of mine. If it wasn't for Lust, she'd be dead right now."

The cabbit took a stance between Holly and the sloth. "If you're trying to say that if you get killed that the world will crumble, save it. The guy that created you is standing right here. Obviously he has the power to do the same things you do."

The sloth burst into laughter again holding a paw over her mouth. "Obviously huh?"

"Actually, I gave some of my power to them when I created them. The power she's talking about, I don't have anymore. Not until I'm married," he glanced over at Holly. "To my Queen."

"Yeah, over my dead body," the cabbit sneered. He did an about-face and glanced up at Holly who just stared at him.

"I guess I should introduce myself. I don't like that you've got Dagon here. I thought I was done with him last time around."

"I've wished the same," Dagon responded his eyes still on the sloth. "Maybe your introductions should wait, we are still in a showdown here."

"You're not in a showdown," the sloth mused. "You're in checkmate. No matter what you do, you can't escape the fact that I can end this entire experiment right now. "

This time Holly burst into laughter and the sloth glared at her.

"You can't end this. You're threatening us, but if you were serious about it you'd already have done it." Holly pointed at the creature herself. "No, you won't do it because Eros lives in this world, and you're obsessed with him."

"He's here too? Seriously? How much trash am I going to have to deal with this time?" the cabbit grumbled as he shook his head.

"Anyway, before we were interrupted, I'm Angel, and I'm your magic mentor. I'm going to help you learn everything you need to know about your special power."