5 Lust | Sloth

Lust

It was purely accidentally that Lust ended up in the same place as Clare, as he explained to his brother, Greed. Purely accidental. He had no reason to explain it, however, because Greed could care less either way.

For the past few weeks, his deranged brother had been sentimentally trying to get the siblings together to prevent some oncoming danger.

And where were all his siblings? Wrath lived on an island, "minding her fucking business," as she eloquently put it and refused to answer Lust's mental calls and the physical ones. He didn't push her too hard because the last time she had been annoyed, the country had seen natural disasters like never before. Pride ran a bar in New York that none of them visited, but, before that, he went on a pursuit of love and followed some redhead around Ireland for years. Envy stayed in Australia, still pouting because he received one power instead of two. Gluttony lived in Italy—was it Italy? Lust had no idea since they hadn't spoken in the better part of two decades, and even then all he knew was that his brother shoved pasta into his face and guzzled wine like water. Lastly, Sloth had answered, but he sounded like he always did—like he didn't care either way what happened. The voice in the background, a little twangy and definitely belonging to a woman, had caused Sloth to hang up immediately. Lust recognized the voice, and he had smiled when he heard it. Athena. So his plan had gone accordingly.

That left him and Greed, hanging out in a restaurant that overlooked the Mississippi River. "So," Greed said, following a girl across the room with his eyes, "tell me about the girl."

Lust almost spit out his drink. "What girl?" He found he didn't want to deny it. After a few days of consistency texting or talking to her on the phone, he knew he was in the beginning stages of love. While his interest in having sex remained the same, his actual desire to participate in the act had decreased. No more wild threesomes. Of course, he was still having sex. Some things wouldn't change.

"The one down there." Greed nodded his head to where Clare sat on a faded yellow blanket. Her hands poised above her keyboard and her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. The sun hit her face and emphasized her high cheekbones. The shadows danced across her jawline. The way her mouth pressed together, it made him think something was wrong. "The pretty one."

Beautiful, Lust corrected in his head. Clare actually made him nervous. It was the most ridiculous thing that had ever happened in his life, and many ridiculous things had happened. "She's enchanting," he answered honestly. "A little shy. A writer." Although, she didn't speak as well as she wrote, or even like she thought.

Greed nodded, looking over at Clare. "She must be quite the young woman, because you keep looking over at her every minute or two." He arched an eyebrow, finishing the last of his wine. "Would you rather be down there?"

Actually yes, but he thought it'd be weird for him to just show up. Of course, the fact that he even ate in the same area as her, even if she couldn't see him, seemed a bit creepy. "I'm here to spend time with you."

Greed grinned. "That's not what I asked, is it?"

Lust ignored him. Something bothered Clare; she kept thrumming hr fingers against her thigh. He noticed last week it was her nervous habit. He could ask her, but then he'd have to admit where he was. Or, he could read her mind. Usually he wouldn't, but if something was endangering her, he had a right to know. After all, nobody could protect her better than him.

"You're justifying things in your mind, aren't you?" Greed interrupted.

Lust grinned at him. He decided to read Clare's mind, and the minute he opened the floodgate, hundreds of voices flooded to him. Sometimes he heard some fucked up stuff; most times, though, people preoccupied their thoughts with whatever was happening in their life at the moment. He focused on Clare, searching for her thoughts—they were the same soft, quiet tone of her voice.

Her thoughts jumbled in her head. She thought about him and writing and dreaming, and none of it quite made sense. None of it but the word 'Mother.' She thought it more than everything else, along with toying with the idea she was crazy. She wanted to tell Lust something, a "message" for Mother.

No, not 'for.'

From.

A chill shot down his spine as he pulled himself from her thoughts and back to Greed. He boxed his power back up, effectively shutting off all the thoughts—including the two women a table over drooling over him and his brother. He felt like someone had thrown cold water on him. "Well brother," he remarked, voice purposefully nonchalant, "you're going to get us all together back soon."

Greed paused. "Is that so?"

He nodded. "Mother is back."

Sloth

Sloth paced outside his bedroom door. Inside, Athena had fallen asleep while they watched a movie. Curled against him, she slept the day away, her face relaxing like she wasn't in mortal danger. Her fingers had rested against his chest gently as if she thought his chest would cave in if she applied too much pressure. After a few minutes, he had dozed off, too, but business needed to be taken care of, and he didn't want to involve Athena. Not yet.

Sighing he clicked the text from Lust. Greed wanted them all to get together, and Sloth didn't need to know everybody's answers to know nobody really wanted to do it. He didn't even want to get his brothers involved, but there was a much bigger threat on the loose—Mother. And if she was trying to kill off one of the Walker girls, then he had to make sure it wasn't Athena she killed.

He wouldn't lie and say he cared too much about the other girls because he didn't know them. Even if he had even more than an inkling of who they were, no one compared to Athena.

The point being, he had to call his brother. Let him know Mother was back—or coming back—and he needed to be on high alert to watch either Clare or Chloe. He also had an ultimatum: he could either work together to defeat Mother, or Lust would have to watch his back for Sebastian because he would, without care, kill whichever Walker girl had go.

Because Athena had to live, that was the most important thing to him.

His phone buzzed. Lust. "There is something you must know," Sloth said immediately upon answering.

"Ah, so my youngest brother finally calls me," Lust said, and Sloth heard him set down a glass. "The world must be ending."

More than likely, Sebastian thought, or it would be for humans. At least, the world as they knew it. "Mother is trying to rise again," he said. Her name struck a fear in them since they were little. They had no idea who she was, no one did.

"One second, Clare," Lust said to someone next to him. The way his name wrapped around the girl's mouth... it was different. He'd never sounded like that before. In the background, a door closed. "I'm aware, Sebastian, that Mother is trying to rise again."

Lust sounded bored. Did he not understand how grave the situation was? Confused, Sloth thought about repeating his statement.

Instead, Sebastian simple stated, "Then you know someone must die." And it wouldn't be Athena. It would be Clare or—Clare. Greed called him yesterday to tell him about a Clare Walker.

Lust sighed. "Yes, yes, Mother has already sent me a message about it. A Walker girl."

"The same Walker girl you're with?" Sloth asked, his voice icy. In his bedroom, Athena whimpered. The conversation needed to end quickly.

"Yes, but you see, Clare has been in contact with Mother for years now, and will not be harmed by her."

Of course. His fist clenched, and the hand he gripped the phone with almost snapped his phone in half.

Sloth swallowed, and a fury ran through him that rivaled Wrath. "Mother is not the only person that can harm Clare, brother." He made the threat thinly veiled. Sloth mastered killing quickly and efficiently a long time ago. Lust would not be able to protect Clare from him unless everything lined up right. Sloth would make sure it wouldn't.

"What are you suggesting?" Lust growled, all amusement and boredom gone from his tone.

"This will work one or two ways: I kill Clare in front of you, and you know you won't be able to stop me." He paused and let the threat sit. Both of them knew he would make good on it. "Or you could help me defeat Mother before she can fully rise."

Lust thought about it. He had no choice but to agree, though. If he cared about Clare at all, he would help Sebastian. And he cared, Sloth knew that.

"What do you want Mother defeated so badly? We have nothing to lose and everything to gain if she rises?"

Why lie? Sloth told him the truth. "The same reason as you, brother. A girl." Behind him, soft footsteps brushed against the floor a second before his door opened. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Athena with tears in her eyes and a tremble in her hands.

Are you okay? he mouthed.

She nodded. "Just thirsty." She brushed past him.

Lust sighed. "Fine. I suppose we'll meet in person one day this week?"

It was as peaceful as they would get. "Sure. Send me a time." He hung up before Lust could response.

And even though Lust had agreed, Sloth knew this marked the beginning of his problems.