9 7| Athena

"Yes, Griffin is Greed," Sebastian answered after a long pause. "Luca is Lust. I am Sloth. Good job, you figured it out." He shut his phone off completely instead of just ending the call.

We were supposed to be seeing Griffin by now, but we were still at Sebastian's house. I stood in front of him in the living room, and he sat on the sofa. I was hoping that he'd see me ready to leave and get up.

"Chill out," I snapped, not liking his tone. I understood he was stressed, but my life was in danger.

"I'm sorry." He gave me an apologetic smile.

On the rare occasion, we argued over petty things like movies or better musicians, but we never fought. It only took one smile from him for me to forget my anger, and, according to him, he had lived too long and had too much trauma for my words to push his buttons.

I shrugged at his apology. If my life was truly in danger, the last thing I wanted to do was spend it angry with him. "Who was that on the phone?" And, more importantly, what had they been talking about? Sebastian had mentioned my name and the word 'sacrifice, and when my life was currently the only thing stopping a super demon from rising, I really didn't want to hear those words.

"My brother." He buried his face in his hands.

"Which one?" I twisted the saber in my hands. It hummed. Long and curved with an iridescent, almost pearl-colored blade sharp enough to cut wind, a white-gold hilt with intricate designs carved into it, and an onyx stone no bigger than the tip of my pinky in the middle of it, this was the most beautiful weapon I had ever seen in my life. I moved it through the air, enjoying the way it felt near weightless in my hands. It made a soft swooshing noise that would've been otherwise inaudible. I wasn't sure how I even heard it.

He didn't answer, choosing to remove his hands from his face and eye me with unfamiliar bags under his wide eyes. They scrutinized my movements, watching for mistakes. "Loosen your hold slightly—you're in control of the blade. It'll move with you not against you," he commanded.

I gave him a dirty look. He was purposefully ignoring me. "I wasn't being serious."

"Every time you pick up that blade, it's serious." He took a deep breath and stood up, pulling his sword from behind him. "Lust. I was on the phone with Lust."

"You mentioned a sacrifice…."

He gave me a sudden, alert look. His eyes flashed, darkness sweeping over his expression and turning his hands into tight fists. "Nothing you need to worry about. I'll kill everybody in the world before I let my brother put you in danger."

Just his brother? Should I watch out for a sudden murdering spree from Sebastian? I decided not to ask. His tone said he meant it. That would be enough for now.

I blinked, clearing my head the images of Sebastian and his murder spree. Blood on his hands, blood almost invisible against the black blade of his sword. Splatters on his clothes. Hair pulled back, lips curled over his teeth in a murderous expression. "Well, thanks, Bash."

Sebastian loved me more than anybody else—it wasn't a secret. He told me often. <i>You're the only person that matters to me besides me, Athena,</i> he would say with his expression heavy, his hair free, and his shirt off.

"What if he sneaks up on me?" I asked. I had little information about his brothers outside of knowing they were the seven deadly sins. Besides him, Griffin, and Luca, I didn't even know the rest of their names. I had no idea what Luca looked like.

"He won't."

"Griffin did," I challenged, putting my saber down on the table behind me. My hands fell on my hips as I fixed him with a look he rarely received from me.

I wanted more information. I needed more information. I needed to know who my enemies were, outside of Mother. I needed to know potential allies as well. What powers did Luca have? Protecting myself against him was imperative. Protecting myself against any of his siblings. Griffin had appeared without warning or knowledge; who's to say he would be the only one? Griffin had known my name, who I was. He had been watching me for a while.

Sebastian had to tell me about Mother, too. I wanted to know as much as I could about the woman who needed my life in exchange for her freedom. Sebastian knew more than he was letting on, I knew he did. And if he didn't, Griffin knew. Even if I didn't fully trust Griffin, I trusted his information.

I really wanted to visit Griffin, even if Sebastian seemed hell-bent on staying here. Griffin wouldn't avoid my answers. That, and I was curious—and excited—to meet one of Sebastian's siblings. I hadn't met another demon before, especially not one like him; I hadn't even seen what they looked like, or their names. All I knew were their sins, and that was kind of obvious.

"That was a fluke."

"So what if there's another fluke and I meet…. Gluttony?" I demanded. I was really tired of his secret-keeping. I was content to keep his business his business. Now my life was in danger, though, and things had changed. His business was now my business. Not knowing anything made me feel as if I was hanging my life over to Mother on a silver platter.

<i>Would you like hot sauce with that, Mother?</i>

I shuddered mentally at the image. Death was not a good look for me.

"Then you're going to leave him full off pasta and wine drunk, but none the wiser about who he is." Sebastian grinned. "Of all my siblings, he's the least harmful to humans, the least likely to accidentally expose a power or two."

His smile irritated me. Either everything was going to be a big joke to him, or he was going to be overbearingly protective and serious. He couldn't be both. "You actually gave me information about your life. Today must be my lucky day."

His grin broadened at my irritation, which only served to make me that much angrier. "My favorite color is also dark green, and it's virtually impossible for us to scar, but I still have a scar on my back."

Talking to Sebastian about anything other than petty human issues was pointless. "Sebastian."

"I feel like, as far as sins go, I really got the short end of the stick. I'm the sin of sloth, but it seems I have the most work to do, which means I am constantly fighting myself—"

I interrupted him. "You don't take me seriously, do you?"

Despite my anger, my voice cracked in the middle of my sentence. The frustration from his joking attitude finally unclamped that lid I had put on my other emotions. The one that overtook the others for control of my mind?

Fear.

It showed its ugly little head with a racing heart and an onslaught of tears that pricked the back of my eyes. Two escaped before I could shove them back. I turned away before Sebastian could see me cry.

I had cried in front of him plenty of times—usually at romantic comedies or sad movies. Never had I cried over something he had done, though.

If I was being completely honest with myself, it wasn't so much his teasing that bothered me as much as it was the stress of the last days finally catching up to me.

And while I trusted that he would keep me safe, I knew we needed the help. Mother could send an army of demons to attack me, and I had no powers. Sebastian was only one demon. Look what happened last time.

I could calculate the odds right now, later, add all the factors I wanted into it, but the end result would be the same: without any help, I would be dead. That in itself was enough to make me curl up under the bed and hide.

But then I realized I had no idea what I was even up again, which meant I couldn't stop it, and things felt that much worse.

"Athena —" He stopped after my name, not needing words. His tone conveyed the apology.

<i> You are going to die,</i> I told myself.

Sebastian would never accept help. Clare was also an option, but I knew it was me. I was the target. I knew it as surely as I knew that it was cold outside, or that demons existed.

I had no options. I couldn't kill Mother, and if I died, she would rise anyway. I couldn't kill Clare because Mother would still rise, and even though I didn't quite know the repercussions of her arrival, I just knew it would be bad. There was no possible way for me to live and everything to remain the same or at least some version of familiarity.

Sebastian wrapped his arms around me, tight and warm. I leaned my head against his chest, hardened muscles somehow soft. This position, this embrace, was as familiar to me as the feel of my own hands against my skin. Sebastian usually greeted me this way when I didn't see him—walking up behind me with a tight squeeze that lingered a second longer than platonic. Sometimes, he did it randomly, resting his chin on my shoulder with a laugh. Other times I napped in that embrace on his sofa.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. He pressed a kiss into the top of my head with a deep breath. "If I think about you dying, I'll do something horrible. My jokes were in bad taste."

"You think?" I grumbled, wiping my eyes. Just like that, the urge to cry disappeared. In Sebastian's arms, it was hard to feel unsafe or worried or anything but comforted. The panic making my cheeks hot disappeared, leaving me a little clearer-headed. "Anyway, tell me about Luca."

Either Sebastian would tell me about his siblings or I would use the phone number Griffin had left in my phone. I had no idea how he managed it. I only noticed when I got in the car that he had texted himself from my phone with a message saying, <i>If you ever want the truth, and the whole truth -Griffin <3.</i> Either way, before the end of the week I would know more about Mother, more about his siblings, and more about who I could and couldn't trust.

He gave me a final squeeze before releasing me. "Are you still on that?"

I nodded. "I'm waiting."

For a second, I thought he was going to fight it, but he sighed. "Why?"

"Because you mentioned me and the word 'sacrifice?'"

The last word rose like a question. I wanted confirmation I had heard him correctly. If Luca wanted to sacrifice me, I should be aware. Just like Griffin showed up when Sebastian walked away, Luca could easily do the same. It wasn't like they couldn't find if they didn't want to. Griffin knew where I was. He could tell any of the others.

"Ah. That." Sebastian didn't elaborate.

"Yes. That." I glared at him, arms crossed. Although, there wasn't much else I needed to know. He hadn't tried to play it off like Luca was joking, which meant this was a very serious situation. Luca was out for my blood. I was down one less demon to have my back against Mother. "So…?"

Sebastian opened his mouth. Closed it. His green eyes looked away from me, a sure sign he was about to lie. "I wouldn't worry too much about him. He's not a threat." I hope was definitely added to the end of his sentence, he just didn't say it out loud.

I narrowed my eyes. "Are you positive?"

Nope, he seemed to say, but he gave me another half-smile. "I'm positive he won't touch you."

That definitely wasn't what I asked, but whether he gave me a straight answer or not, I had the information I needed.

One: Sebastian could kick his ass in a fight.

Two: Luca was not a threat. I had a strong feeling that Sebastian held Clare's life over Luca's head. If Luca couldn't beat Sebastian in combat, then he definitely couldn't stop him from killing Clare. He also couldn't get to me.

Three: I'm positive he won't touch you. Luca would never get close enough to me to hurt me. Sebastian would make sure of it.

In conclusion, Luca was not be trusted, but I also wasn't in danger.

"Cool."

However, things were most definitely not cool.

Even with what he told me, I was no further to even piecing together a hint of my situation. It was too far out of my realm. Demons existed, I knew, but <i>how?</i> How did they die? Where did they go? Where was the Underworld technically? Where was Mother? In the Underworld? Somewhere else?

And who was Mother? Besides the strongest demon to exist apparently. Despite that, something kept her tied down in her dwelling, something that had to do with me. Which posed two questions: what was in my blood that was also in Clare's blood and what the hell was she rising from?

Sebastian stared at me, face unreadable. "You're thinking really hard about something."

I shrugged. "I have a lot to think about." Mother. Mother. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, her name rang a bell. I had forgotten where I heard her from—besides the pet name for the woman who birthed me—or who told me about her. I closed my eyes, trying to think, but came up empty. "Who is Mother?" I asked. Maybe Sebastian had mentioned it to me.

He shrugged. "I'd tell you if I knew."

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I just gave him an irritated look. "She's trying to kill me. I think I should know."

"I'm being honest—I have no idea who she is."

Blinking in disbelief, I didn't respond. I believed him, only because Sebastian wouldn't do anything to upset me again. Tonight anyway. Still, if Sebastian didn't know who she was… he knew everything about the demon world.

Mother hadn't been motioned in any of the demonology journals Sebastian had made me read. The closest thing to her had been the demons she had sent after me. They were the highest level demons, after Sebastian and the rest of his siblings.

"Is she your actual Mother?" I asked, thinking out loud. "Or just like given the name because she's super powerful?"

He sighed. "Maybe someone else knows." He picked up his phone and disappeared. Sebastian never flaunted his powers in front of me. I could count on one hand how many times I saw him use them.

While he handled business, I moved on to the next problem: me and Clare. We both fit into this puzzle somehow, yet how was the question. The only two things we shared were age and lineage. Our fathers were twins. However, Chloe shared the same lineage as us, but she was younger by about eight years. Therefore, whatever happened in 1998 was the determining factor. I googled a list of historical events in 1998, but nothing relevant appeared.

Outside of reading my horoscope every few months, I ignored astrology. I started searching through planet positions and patterns. Nothing made sense, and I quickly found myself in a rabbit hole of comparing Sebastian's chart and mine for compatibility. I frowned at my phone screen, (not because we weren't compatible because we totally were, but because I hadn't found any new information) as Sebastian came ambling back in, phone in his pocket, jaw tight. "What're you looking at?" he asked. "You look miffed."

"Our compatibility compared to our birth charts," I answered. "We're perfect for each other."

"Then why are you frowning?"

"Because I was supposed to be looking up planet patterns in 1998, but I got distracted."

"I didn't know you were into astrology."

"I'm not." I put my phone down and took a deep breath. If it wasn't the year, and it wasn't my parents, what else did we have in common? "I'm trying to figure this whole mess out.

"Either Clare or me has to die in order for her to rise, which means we have to have something in common right?" I waited for him to answer. Sebastian leaned against the doorway, eyebrow raised in approval, arms crossed against his broad chest. My life was in danger, but that didn't mean I couldn't spare a second to study his muscles. "There are only two things we have in common: we're cousins, and we were born a few hours apart.

"But us being cousins means absolutely nothin' here because we also have three other cousins, one of which is Clare's little sister, and no one is going after them. So, presumably, something happened in 1998. That has nothing to do with astrology because I've exhausted that option"

He stood up straight, dropping his arms at his side. He didn't speak for a second, but he made a sound like he was piecing facts together. I expected something profound to come out of his mouth, but all he said was, "What exactly about our chart makes us perfect for each other? I heard that you have to look deeper than the sun signs."

I rolled my eyes but didn't push it; this was how Sebastian held it together. "I'd have to go back and look at it thoroughly. We have some compatible placements—trines and conjuncts, houses and what not."

"Show me."

"Sebastian, my life is in danger. You can find a way to bridge your way into a declaration of love later."

He winked, but the action was lost by the graveness in his expression. "But this way distracts you from worrying as much." He reached over and squeezed my shoulder. "I can keep you safe, Athena. If I have to die trying."

I believed him, and I trusted him. Sebastian would burn the Earth down, kill everyone, and do whatever else needed to be done to keep me safe. I knew that without question. However, I also knew Mother was a bigger problem than we were usually met with. I didn't want to be running away until I was old ad gray, killing off every demon that attacked me. Eventually, she'd catch me off-guard.

But he was right—his teasing had ebbed the worry into little ripples instead of tsunami-level waves.

"Let's just figure out who Mother is. If you die, you might as well take me with you because I'd miss you so much." I smiled. "We also can't keep running and killing demons until she decides it's not worth chasing me anymore. That's a horrible plan."

He coughed. "Is it?"

I blinked at him. "Please tell me you're joking."

"It's a good short-term plan, you have to admit."

See, I might have agreed with him, but then I remembered something he told me about three months ago: I'm very patient when it comes to humans. I'm over a hundred years old, and I'm immortal, Athena. Weeks to them pass like minutes to me. Meaning, his "short-term plan" could've very well have been months. Or even a few years. "Not at all."

"Just until she got to Clare first!" he protested.

I stared at him. "I'm sorry, are you suggesting that, instead of trying to find a way to save us both, we just keep me in hiding until Mother gets tired and offs my cousin instead?" I asked slowly. "Just to clarify."

His cheeks flushed. "You said yourself you'd rather she died over you!"

I wanted to laugh, but in a 'this is totally not funny, I'm just in complete disbelief that you find nothing wrong with what you're saying' way. "I'd also rather eat the leaves off a tree over roasted beetles, but if cheeseburgers are an option, I'm totally choosing that."

He blinked."I'm not following, which isn't very surprising because you're terrible at analogies."

I ignored him. I was excellent at analogies, but we had bigger things to discuss. Like, for example, how he didn't have a plan. It was literally the firs thing you did when you got a spare moment. "Sebastian—"

"Athena."

He was back to irritating me in only the way Sebastian could—the kind that sort of made me smile while he did it. "All I'm saying is, I don't want to die, and I don't want Clare to die either. Just that if we're at the very last second, and both of us are on a cliff, push her first."

"Actually, my plan involves making sure Clare is the only one on the cliff."

Being that I couldn't tell if he was purposefully missing the point or he really didn't understand, I just let the conversation go. Hopefully the cliff situation wouldn't play out within the next few days.

Although, I would've liked to add that I highly doubted Mother would've had us on a cliff anyway. She seemed more like a fatal wound, possibly ripping the heart out of the chest type of demon.

"What does Luca look like?" I asked.

"When you think of Lust, who do you think of?"

My answer was immediate. "Channing Tatum."

Sebastian laughed—loudly. "I wouldn't say my brother looks quite like him. Like me, he's inhumanly beautiful. Women—and men—say he's seductive. Charming. You want to like him immediately upon meeting him. Why?"

"I need a physical description." I didn't need to know his personality. Personality wouldn't make me recognize him in public. "In case I ever come across him. I need to know."

He looked like he wanted to protest, but he answered me anyway. "Blonde. Tall. Blue eyes. Hair like mine." He shrugged. "You'll know him when you see him. Remember that trick I taught you?"

About a year ago, Sebastian had taught me how to spot demons.

All humans could see demons, but, smiler to how we subconsciously ignored seeing our noses, we skipped past the weird atrocities that made them demons—the horns, extra eyes, third arms, etc. We didn't see it because we didn't want to see it.

The trick, Sebastian had explained, was to focus; just like we would see our noses when we thought about it, we had to actively think about it. Apparently even the Sins had little demon things. Sebastian's hair was actually dark green, his eyes fully gold with no pupils. When I looked at him real hard, ignoring the parts of him that weren't human—so, basically, all of him—I got a weird little shudder, but I was still attracted to him.

"You know, this whole situation is kind of stressing me out," I told Sebastian, sitting on the sofa since we obviously weren't leaving anytime soon. He walked around the sofa to sit down next to me. "I usually know everything, but, like, not this time. I know nothing."

He grabbed my foot and started massaging it, working his fingers into the muscle. Somehow he always missed my tickle spots. "What do you need to know?" he asked.

I gave him an incredulous look. "Are you willingly sharing information now?"

A smile. "Not particularly. I'm just curious." He stroked a thumb down the side of my ankle, and I swallowed down the sigh of pleasure. "I still haven't figured out how your mind works. Or if it does."

I rolled my eyes.

"I was trying to protect you at first. The less you knew, the less you would get involved. I didn't want to lose you."

"You'll never lose me, Bash." Heat passed between or gaze, and I had to remind myself that we had a platonic relationship, and it needed to remain that way for both of our sakes. "So what now? Are you gonna be more forthcoming with information?" I asked.

��Not at all." He chuckled, releasing my foot and standing up. "You ready to go meet Griffin?"

I took his outstretched hand. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to tell me about your siblings." Maybe in them I could find the answer to Mother.

"I think it would actually." He pulled me off the sofa and onto my feet but didn't let go of my hand.

"You have a really smart mouth for someone in the presence of danger."

God knew I didn't want to, but I let go of his hand.

He laughed, disappearing and reappearing with my boots. "I scoff in the face of danger." He guided me out of the house and to the car, humming. It seemed his distraction had eased the worry from both of us. He squeezed the side of my hip. "I meant it earlier—I won't let anything happen to you. You're way too valuable to me."

Where he touched my hip burned. In the best way. I wanted him to move his hand a little further inward. "You think I'm valuable?" I teased.

Sebastian just gave me a side-eye and opened my door. "Can I let you in on a little secret?" he asked, closing it behind me. I buckled myself in, not even surprised when he teleported into the driver's seat instead of getting in the normal way.

A secret? "And here I was settling for answers to reasonable questions."

He gave me his signature smile. "Do you want to know or not?"

"Yes, please."

He turned his car on, and warm air coated my arms. I needed a nap, but not yet. In a few minutes, Griffin would, hopefully, answer some of my questions. Or maybe create new questions.

"I think you are the most beautiful person in the world," he admitted, which wasn't much as far as secrets go. I knew he thought I was beautiful. He had never said it, but I knew when he looked at me. "And I think—"

Whatever the rest of his sentence was, I wouldn't know. His phone rang, interrupting the mood. He jumped, startled, before shooting a dark look at his phone and silencing it. "Anyway," he growled, good mood gone. Sebastian was like the weather—quickly changing. "None of us know who Mother is. Every one of us has a set of journals with entries about the the different types of demons from training when we were younger.

"The thing is, every entry with Mother has been removed from our journals, and we don't know when or how it happened. In fact, none of us even remember any of our training about her, none of the classes we took—"

I had to interrupt. "Y'all have demon classes?"

He spared me a glance as he backed out of his driveway. He had no neighbors—Better for the torturing, he told me. "Of course. I wasn't born knowing how to fight."

Made sense. "Continue."

"Anyway, she's this big blank to all of us." He paused. "At least the ones I've talked to, which is Lust and Greed."

My mind whirled as we drove down the street. If they didn't know who Mother was, who did? Someone somewhere had information on her. We just had to find out who. But how? "Do you guys refer to each other by sins or as names?" I asked vaguely. It wasn't important, but I still wanted to know. I called him Sebastian, and I would continue calling him that.

Sebastian turned, guiding his sports car—it was some flashy, expensive car that was his pride and joy—onto the highway. "Depends. We change our names every hundred or so years to stay undercover, so we usually refer to each other by our sins. Unless I feel like being an arse."

"So, basically, you always refer to them by their names?"

His response was a grin. "Only recently. Of course, I've only just begun to speak to them again."

I didn't respond. I was thinking again. If there was a blank in all of their memories, then someone would've had to remove it. They also would have had to have access to those journals. "Who has has access to your journals? Like ever?" I demanded. It couldn't have been that many people, right? Sebastian was a private person, not just with me, but with everybody. Only a few would have had access to his journals at least.

"My siblings, you, and me."

They wouldn't have done it. They had also ripped theirs out. "Is there any chance that one of them could've done it?" I knew he wouldn't have.

"No, not without us knowing."

"Nobody has mind control or anything like that?" Which, for the record, was totally cool.

Sebastian frowned. Took a deep breath. "Lust. He can read minds, control them."

Well, he wasn't my favorite person at the moment. I definitely wanted to pin this on him. "Does it seem like the type of thing he would do?" My question was reluctant. Anybody who would sacrifice an innocent girl without a thought would tear out the pages of a super demon in his siblings' journals.

He shook his head. "No. Lust wouldn't do that. That's not the kind of person he is."

I huffed. "He's the type to offer me up as a sacrifice, though, right?" I demanded. "You haven't spoken to him in years. Do you even know what kind of person he is anymore?"

Sebastian lifted a shoulder and took the next exit. "I hate him, but he always has the best interests of those he claims to love at heart," he explained. "If he's doing something, it's because he thinks it's best."

"Sacrificing me is best?"

"Not for you, maybe, but I'm sure he thinks he's doing what's right."

Was he defending him? "Do you think he's right?"

"I didn't say that."

"Then what are you saying?" For a second, I stopped trying to piece together the puzzle of Mother. Sebastian's comments rubbed me the wrong way. He didn't have anything else to say except 'Luca is a bad, bad man, and he deserves the electric chair.' "Because you don't even li—"

"Athena. I'm just trying to answer your questions."

Oh. As quickly as I bristled, it went away. I was going to apologize, but I decided against it. I wasn't particularly sorry. "Well, if Luca didn't do it, then who did?" Pulling myself away from Luca—he wasn't guilty of anything except trying to protect someone he loved, even if it was at my expense—I returned to thoughts of the situation at hand. We had to figure out who had taken those journal entries. And why. It had to be someone working with Mother, but who was she? How did she control them from… wherever she was? She needed us to 'rise,' so presumably she was trapped somewhere below.

Like Hell?

Sebastian thought as we drove. "No one but my teacher. He was a human back then, died over a hundred years ago," he explained. "Everything he had we took, so he didn't have it either. It's someone else."

This was going nowhere. I rubbed at my temples as he took a right down a dark street. In the distance, I could see lights. Sebastian was actually telling me things for once, and I couldn't even make heads or tails of it. I was back at Point A with no leads. "But who and why?" I sighed, closing my eyes. "Maybe Griffin has some answers."

Sebastian chuckled. "He definitely has answers." The lights became brighter. Now I was looking into a single home, one with a huge fountain in the middle of the front yard that emitted a waterfall and red lights. "The problem," he sighed, pulling into the driveway and shutting his car off, "is getting them from him."

I fought the urge to groan in frustration. "Another you?"

He shook his head. "You'll see."

A second later, the door opened, and Griffin appeared in nothing but a pair of boxers, a feather boa, and a girl over his back. He waved, beckoning us in. I looked over at Sebastian and raised an eyebrow. "Is this—"

"You wanted to meet my siblings." He disappeared, reappearing outside of my door. He opened it, the good humor on his face exchanged for mild annoyance. "Well have fun."