Corrine looked around the nearly empty shelves of the bodega, searching for anything that she could eat or drink. Was this the seventh or eighth place she had searched today? She was having a hard time thinking straight with the gnawing hunger in her stomach. She pulled the plastic water bottle from her bag with the last few drops of water pooled at the bottom and turned it upside down, holding out her tongue to catch the moisture. And now she was out of water too.
“Shit,” she muttered, tossing the empty plastic bottle to the floor and kicking it towards the wall.
Her head was pounding and she wasn’t sure if it was from the creeping dehydration or starvation. She figured it was probably a mixture of the two. She walked through the storefront which had been blown to pieces by an errant bomb some time ago. She blinked in the bright sunlight as she exited the dim interior of the abandoned store. A sigh left her lips as she looked out at the desolate city. Rusted out cars dotted the cratering pavement of the once busy streets.
Quiet used to be unsettling in Manhattan. Now it was the default. The city was far different now than it had been the day that Corrine had arrived full of hope to begin her law school journey at NYU. That was almost five years ago now. She had made it through law school and graduated as the world started to enter its final stages. She studied for the bar exam while bombs rained down on cities across the globe. She was supposed to sit for the exam the same day that DC was attacked. Needless to say, she never sat for that exam. And now, two years later, she was scrounging around the husk of the once great New York City to find food and water.
She kicked an empty can down the sidewalk as she walked along lost in thought. She was feeling deeply reflective and there was a growing sense that she was approaching the end of her life. Part of her didn’t care anymore. She had worked so hard for a life that never came. Instead of the breakthrough she had been aiming for, she found herself isolated in a city that once took her breath away.
The city had fallen into chaos as the US government fell and they lost all communications shortly afterward. Without a government and without the ability to contact anyone or keep up with what was happening, the nation had quickly fallen into anarchy. Corrine was fuzzy on the details but she knew that something cataclysmic had happened for the US to be left completely without internet, broadcasting, or even radio. But the bombings had stopped after that so she could only assume that whatever had happened was a global phenomenon.
A skinny cat raced by Corrine, jolting her from her memories. She watched it slink down an alley and in her desperation she wondered if she could catch it and eat it. She immediately pushed the thought from her mind, she would rather die than resort to eating stray animals like some sort of ghoul. She continued walking down the street, each step beginning to feel more labored and difficult. How many days had it been since she had eaten? Corrine couldn’t remember and that alone told her it had been too long.
Corrine wasn’t sure if she considered herself lucky to have survived the war and its aftermath or if she had been cursed to suffer a more agonizing and drawn out death. She would’ve left if she had been able to. Most people had when the initial riots began and the streets burned. Corrine didn’t have that option though. She had just graduated law school a few weeks prior and had been living on loans, she had no additional savings to enable her escape from the city especially once public transportation stopped running. She had sold her car the day she moved to NYC, relying exclusively on the walkability and subway systems of the city. She had never imagined that it would cease to exist in just a few years. So she had holed up in her small flat and rode out the riots, sneaking out under the cover of darkness to stock up on supplies and boarding up her door with nails and plywood. She didn’t have to worry about the windows as she was on one of the upper floors and the fire escape had been out of code since she moved in. She knew no one would be able to use it to get into her apartment though she was also too aware of the fact that she wouldn’t be able to use it to escape either.
A convenience store loomed on her left and she slid in through the broken glass and bent metal frame of its front, entering the dusty store with only the scant rays of sunlight illuminating it. Broken bottles and various trash littered the cracked linoleum. Small shoots of green grass pushed up from the floor, determined to grow. Corrine opened one of the fridge doors, grabbing a bottle of soda that had been left behind. She untwisted the cap and there was no hiss from the release of carbonation. She knew it had been here for a long time without refrigeration but she was desperate. She took a sip and spat it onto the floor. The liquid was thick and syrupy and coated her tongue. She threw the bottle to the ground in frustration and it oozed onto the dirty floor. She walked into the backroom, searching for any excess stock that might still be stored back there and once again came up empty handed.
“Fuck!” she yelled, kicking a plastic drink crate. It skidded across the floor and hit the wall with a sharp ‘clunk’ that echoed off the bare walls. As she started to walk towards the rear exit and leave, she heard the electronic ding that used to announce someone’s entrance into the store. She could hear someone’s feet shuffling across the floor in the store and curiosity got the best of her. She quietly tiptoed to the doorway of the backroom and peeked around the corner.
A man stood in front of the same glass front refrigerator that Corrine had grabbed the soda from. He wore a well tailored green suit with a golden tie knotted around his throat. His white button down was pristine and a pair of gold rimmed sunglasses sat on his face. He was stroking his chin as if examining his options though the fridge was empty. He moved the sunglasses to his head and looked directly at Corrine with a smirk on his face.
Corrine ducked behind the doorway, her heart pounding in her chest. There was silence and she slowly turned to look out from the doorway again, coming face to face with the man who was now standing directly in front of the entryway.
“JESUS!” she screamed, falling backwards onto the floor and scrambling back. The man shook his head with a chuckle,
“Not quite,” he replied. He extended his hand to help her up and Corrine noticed the watch on his wrist. It looked as if it was made from dark stone like obsidian with golden roman numerals etched into his face. Corrine had never seen a watch like it. She looked at his hand skeptically and the man jerked it forward,
“I won’t hurt you,” he insisted but Corrine wasn’t convinced. She set aside her better judgment and took his hand, allowing him to pull her up. She brushed off her hands on her pants and looked at the man. There was something off about him but Corrine couldn’t quite put her finger on it. He made her deeply uneasy but she wondered if any person she encountered would make her feel the same way. She hadn’t seen another person in a long time.
“Hello,” he said. Corrine narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out what this man wanted.
“Hi…” she replied warily.
“You’re a very guarded individual. Though I can understand why,” the man paused. “Thirsty?” he asked and he extended his hand towards Corrine again but this time there was a bottle of water in it. Corrine could see the condensation on the bottle, indicating that it was cold. She licked her lips and her tongue felt like sawdust.
The man raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, pushing the water bottle towards her again. Corrine could have sworn it hadn’t been there before but she also wasn’t relying on her senses at the moment. Dehydration was doing weird things to her body. Maybe this whole thing was just a hallucination. She slowly took the bottle, watching the man the entire time. He seemed unoffended by her skepticism.
A slight smile played across his lips as Corrine took the bottle. She could feel the moisture against her palms and the cold emanating from the liquid inside. She swallowed hard as she untwisted the cap and brought the bottle to her lips. She let out a soft sigh of relief as the water rushed over her dry lips and down her parched throat. She closed her eyes and chugged the water, the excess dripping from the corners of her mouth which she wiped with her hand, sucking the remaining water off her skin.
The man just silently watched her as she finished and tossed the bottle to the ground. Corrine took a breath and nodded to the man with a tight lipped smile,
“Thanks,” she muttered and the man smiled brightly.
“But of course,” he replied.
There was an awkward silence as the pair just stood there staring at one another, neither saying a word. Corrine shuffled uncomfortably before speaking,
“I, uh, I should go look for more food and stuff…”
“Ok,” the man replied, stepping to the side so Corrine could walk past him. She quickly walked by him, looking him up and down once more as he continued to smile. She made it to the window she had come through and turned back around. The store was empty. She looked to her left and right but saw no sign of the man she had just been speaking with.
Baffled, she made her way back towards where the man had been standing and looked around again. Her eyes fell on something within the refrigerator. There were now three bottles of water there that Corrine swore hadn’t been there before. She opened the door and grabbed the bottles, tossing them into her backpack and zipping it back up before looking through the derelict store one last time. She went out the backdoor and left with her mind full of questions. She searched one last store and came up empty handed. The sun was beginning to set as she walked back to her apartment.
She made her way up the dark stairwell, the multiple flights becoming more difficult to traverse with each passing day. Her stomach rumbled and sent shooting pangs of hunger through her body. She took out a bottle of water from her bag and sipped it slowly as she ascended the stairs. It did nothing for her hunger but it was all she had.
Corrine entered her flat and set down her bag before bolting the door shut behind her. She searched through the cabinets even though she knew there was nothing left. She let out a frustrated groan as she collapsed on the couch. She stared up at the ceiling and the dusty blades of the dormant fan that hung above her couch. Her eyelids felt like lead and they slowly closed bringing a restless slumber to Corrine.
Corrine opened her eyes and did not recognize the ceiling above her. She sat up quickly and realized that she was on a hard marble floor. She squinted in the darkness as moonlight filtered in through the small square windows above her. She saw the outline of a large reception desk back against a wall of elevators that stood like metallic sentries. She stood up and looked around, taking in her surroundings. The lack of light made it difficult to tell for certain but the classic Greek architecture and stone walls combined with the marbled floors and gilded elevators indicated that she was in the Wall Street building. She just didn’t know how she got here.
Corrine listened but only the sound of her own heartbeat filled her ears. She was alone in this large empty building. She started to walk towards the front when she heard the swooshing sound of elevator doors sliding open. She turned and watched in amazement as the silvery doors of one of the elevators opened fully and warm yellow light spilled out from its cabin.
“Base Floor. Going up,” a robotic voice intoned and Corrine started to creep towards the elevator door, looking around the corners to make sure there was no one inside. The light drew her in like a moth to a flame. It had been a long time since there was electricity and Corrine had forgotten how much she missed it. She made it to the elevator and hesitated a moment before stepping in. The doors rapidly shut behind her and sealed her in. Corrine whirled around and pounded on the doors but they remained closed,
“Going up,” the robotic voice said again. The elevator shuddered and Corrine was thrown off balance, staggering back and holding onto the support bar as the elevator began to ascend. Corrine gripped the metal bar as the elevator rose rapidly. There was a rising sense of terror in her stomach. The elevator began to slow and then it stopped. The doors slid open and Corrine stepped out. The doors closed behind her and the light went off.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The windows in this room stretched from the floor to the ceiling and the moonlight bathed the room in a silvery sheen. Standing in front of the window with his back to Corrine was the suited man she had met earlier in the day. She froze in place, holding her breath.
“New York City, the city that never sleeps, now permanently at rest,” the man said, still facing away from Corrine. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been here though it will likely be the last. I’ve always had a sort of fondness for this place. It truly is magical. Wouldn’t you agree, Corrine?” he asked, turning around to face her.
Corrine’s stomach dropped. How did he know her name? She started to step back towards the elevator doors. The man laughed but it was a hollow sound.
“Sit,” he commanded and now Corrine found herself seated directly in front of a dark wooden desk. Behind it sat the suited man. She looked around rapidly and noticed it was the same room but she had no memory of sitting down in this chair or even seeing the desk when she first got off the elevator. She looked at the man. His face was hard to see, obscured by the darkness and shadows that seemed to cling to him. Even though she was just a few feet away, none of his features were discernible.
“Who are you?” she asked. Her tone was fierce and demanded an answer but her body shook like a leaf. The man drummed his fingers on the desk,
“Hungry?” he asked. A silver plate now sat in front of Corrine and on it sat a steaming slice of New York style pizza. Its melted cheese oozing off the thin crust and covered with oily glistening pepperonis. Corrine’s mouth watered but she resisted the urge to grab the piece of pizza and shove it down her throat.
“I find it’s best to never negotiate on an empty stomach,” the man said. “Eat up.” Corrine’s stomach growled loudly and she gave in, grabbing the piece of pizza and taking a bite. It was the most delicious thing she had eaten in years, maybe in her entire life. The man was silent as she scarfed down the pizza slice, barely breathing in between bites.
“Your table manners are atrocious but I suppose I can’t blame you for that. How many days has it been since you last ate, Corrine?” the man asked.
“How do you know my name?” she asked in response.
“Oh I know everything about you, Corrine. I know that you would have been a fantastic lawyer if life had been different. I know how scrappy you are and how capable. And that is why you’re here,” the man replied.
“What do you want from me?” Corrine asked, her voice breaking.
“That’s a better question. Tell me, what is one of the elements of a contract?”
“There’s six of them,” Corrine answered.
“Right, but which one is most applicable to what I might want? Not a trick question,” the man countered. Corrine thought for a moment, she wasn’t enjoying this back and forth with the man. She wanted nothing more than to be back in her flat.
“I don’t know, offer? Consideration?” she threw out the first two terms that came to mind.
“Oh very good,” the man remarked. He stood up from the desk, “Consideration was what I was going for, a sort of exchange for the promises I can make to you. My offer, if you will, in exchange for your consideration.”
Corrine glanced toward the elevator quickly and her mind ran through scenarios on ways she could escape.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the man said darkly and Corrine’s attention snapped back to the man.
“Do what?” she asked.
“You can’t escape. The elevator won’t work anyway and you won’t make it down the stairs.” There was a sinister edge to the man’s voice and Corrine felt a chill run down her spine. The man clapped his hands together, “Plus I haven’t made my offer yet.”
“What’s your offer?”
“We’re finally getting to better questions,” he replied. “But first let me ask you a question, along the same lines as the one you asked of me at the beginning. Corrine, what am I?”
Corrine’s heart beat rapidly in her chest. Logically, she knew that the answer that came to mind shouldn’t be the right one. But instinctually, she knew it was true.
“You’re a demon,” Corrine answered and the man turned back to face her. Even in the darkness she could see his wide toothy smile. His white teeth glowing in the pale moonlight.
“Good job, but not just any demon. Let me show you,” he said. He walked forward and placed his palm against Corrine’s forehead.
A vision of a fiery comet crashing into Wall Street and melting the bronze bull filled her head. She saw the man emerge from the fire and smoke dressed in the green suit and the golden tie. Thin red lines like tendrils extended from his fingers and she saw them wrap around the throats of men who looked like business executives and some of them bore the faces of renowned billionaires. The red string wrapped around their throats like a collar and once all of them were ensnared, the man pulled. There was an expression of surprise and panic and the men vanished. Somehow she knew that was a representation of the suited man claiming their souls. Green dollar bills lined the ground like a carpet and the man stepped on them as he walked into the Wall Street building. The golden bull was replaced with a golden fox. Then the vision ended and Corrine was left quietly panting in her seat.
The man backed away and and perched himself on the edge of the desk,
“Well?” he asked.
“You’re the fox sin of Greed, one of the seven deadly sins.”
“Ooh very good, especially for someone as agnostic as you. Yes, that is exactly what I am emblematic of though my siblings and I are referred to as the Seven Vices or seven princes of Hell. I am the Prince of Greed.” He bowed his head, “At your service.”
Corrine didn’t know how to respond. She gripped the sides of her pants tightly, wanting to bolt from the room. The man filled her with a deep sense of dread and now it all made sense as to why.
“Dark in here, isn’t it?” the man asked. Without thinking, Corrine blurted out,
“It is nighttime.” The man chuckled,
“Witty, you’re lucky I’m not the arrogant type or those may have been your last words,” he said. He lifted a hand and snapped his fingers. There was a slight pop and then the smell of burning dust as the overhead fluorescent lights came on and bathed the room in their artificial white glow. “That’s better.”
For the first time, Corrine could clearly see the man. She saw how there were no veins beneath his skin and how his proportions seemed to be just slightly off. His fingers were too long and his thighs and calves didn’t match. She also noticed his eyes. They were completely black and no light reflected in them. They looked like shark eyes, abyssal and hungry. Were they been like that before? She couldn’t remember.
“Mortal forms are ill fitting but my true form would tear your soul into pieces,” the man said as Corrine scrutinized him.
“There’s seven of you?” she asked and the man let out a short staccato laugh.
“Fair question and yes, but that gets to the heart of what I want from you. As you’ve noted, there are seven vices meaning there are six more demons like me on this mortal plane. Now what you don’t know is that we are all here for the same reason and it has nothing to do with tempting humans,” the man said. “Not anymore, at least.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because humanity gave up,” the man replied simply. “You tore yourselves apart in a pointless war and then let society collapse because of the inability to access the internet or electricity which is laughable on its face. But Earth requires a master and there is a vacuum left now.”
“A master?” A chilling grin spread across the Prince of Greed’s face,
“Yes, and only one can claim that title. But again, there are seven of us.”
“You and the others are competing to claim Earth?” Corrine asked skeptically. Something about the idea was too fantastical for her to comprehend.
“Exactly!” the man exclaimed, “But I can’t do it on my own, which is where you come in.”
“Why can’t you destroy the others on your own?” Corrine asked.
“Destroy is the wrong word. Banish is correct, Princes of Hell fall along the same lines of matter. We cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred between here and Hell. But to banish another Prince, I need to be more powerful than them. I need more souls.” the man explained.
“You want my soul?”
“Only if you’re offering but that’s not what I’m asking you for,” the man replied cryptically.
“I’m not offering,” Corrine replied firmly. The man shrugged,
“No problem.” There was another long silence before Corrine spoke again,
“You want me to bring you others who will give you their soul?”
“Clever, very clever. Sort of. You help me and I’ll give you all the tools you need and you’ll have a lot more of that” the man gestured to the plate where there was once again a slice of pizza sitting on it. Corrine eyed it hungrily before pushing the plate away,
“I can’t,” she said and the man tilted his head quizzically,
“What have you got to lose?” he asked.
“My humanity,” she replied and the man scoffed,
“Humanity lost itself, don’t make the same mistake,” he warned. “But, you need time to consider. We’ll speak soon. Goodnight, Corrine.”
Corrine woke up on her couch, her neck sore from being angled up at the ceiling. She rubbed the back of it as she leaned forward on the couch. She looked around the living room as she recounted the events of last night and tried to figure out if it had all been a dream or a hunger induced hallucination. The deadbolt on her door was still secure and all of her belongings were in the same location as they had been before she’d fallen asleep. She opened her bag and found only an empty water bottle. The two others she had shoved in the bag were gone,
“Hallucinations it is,” she said. Her stomach groaned in response.
Her body ached as she grabbed her bag and unlocked the door, stepping out into the hall and locking the door again. She slowly made her way down the stairs and began thinking through the next areas she could search for food. She needed food and water soon. She wasn’t going to make it another few days. She thought about the pizza from her weird dream and her stomach roared. She licked her dry lips.
Corrine stumbled outside and began walking. The sun beat down on her and she staggered, nearly falling on the uneven sidewalk. She sat down against the building as her vision swam. She felt so weak. She leaned back and stared up at the sky. Maybe today was the day she died. At least it was a pretty day.
There was a squeak from beside her and Corrine saw a rat sniffing her bag. She watched it for a moment before grabbing it. The small creature squealed and struggled as Corrine brought it towards her mouth. She knew it was disgusting but she was desperate. She squeezed the rat tighter and opened her mouth, closing her own eyes.
“That’s repulsive,” a voice said. Corrine opened her eyes and saw the green suited man standing in front of her. She dropped the rat and it ran off. The man looked down at her, his expression unreadable with his eyes hidden behind the dark lens sunglasses.
“Are you real?” Corrine mumbled. The man cocked his head and Corrine saw double,
“Hmm, I suppose one water bottle and a piece of pizza only delayed the inevitable,” the man remarked.
“What do you mean?” Corrine tried to say but the words came out slurred.
The man reached out and Corrine felt his cool skin pressed against her forehead. He was silent for a moment.
“Ah, well your kidneys are shutting down, farewell I guess.”
Corrine swallowed hard and winced. Her throat felt like it was full of razor blades.
“Help me,” she whimpered, “Please.” The man stared at her for a moment, considering.
“Fine,” he replied.
Corrine found herself sitting in her apartment again but this time the man was there too.
“Am I dead?” she asked, suddenly able to speak clearly again. Her vision was back to normal too and her throat didn’t feel like sandpaper.
“No, do you want to be?” the man asked and Corrine shook her head. “Care to reconsider my offer then or are you planning to coast through the next few weeks until you’re eating rats or dead?”
“You promise I’ll live if I help you?” Corrine asked,
“I’ll promise you my protection.”
“That’s not promising that I’ll stay alive,” Corrine retorted. The man sighed,
“Fine, I will not allow you to die until the terms of our contract are complete.”
“Including protecting me from the other Princes?”
The Prince of Greed groaned, “Lawyers. Yes, fine, I will promise you my protection, the ability to do what I ask, and freedom from death until our contract terminates upon the successful completion of what I task you to do, subject to change. You’ll be gifted with a silver tongue, unlimited vitality, and what you would know best as teleportation. In return, you assist me towards my end goal and, should you die because of your own actions, your soul is forfeit. Understood?”
Corrine thought for a moment. The deal felt wrong but she didn’t want to find herself on the street contemplating eating live animals or dying on the sidewalk. At least with this deal, she had a chance. She doubted he would save her again if she didn’t agree. She extended her hand and the man smiled,
“Deal,” she said. Greed grasped her hand and pressed his nails into her wrist. She winced and tried to pull back but he held her there for a moment. He finally released her arm and she pulled back, glaring at the Prince. There was a burning feeling and Corrine watched as a dark mark etched itself into her arm. She looked at it quizzically before realizing that it was a fox head.
“The deal is done,” Greed said and Corrine was left standing alone in her apartment. The ceiling fan blades began to rotate slowly as electricity returned to her apartment and Corrine felt a mix of both regret and relief.
“No going back now,” she said to herself, still staring at the dark fox emblazoned in her skin.