Cozy. Warm. Blessed silence. At least for a little while. Sloth sighed in contentment. While the other Sins were less than pleased by their captivity and the lack of victims, he was ecstatic. He could just be .
The air above him shifted, and he cracked his eyes open curiously. Verdant greens stared back at him. How—? Ah, Envy was perched on the windowsill behind his reclined chair, which let her lean over him.
“Yes?” Oh, that hoarse voice would not do at all. He could do better. “Can I help you?”
Those eyes just stared a moment more before she glanced up. Sloth followed her gaze to their keeper, seated on the couch and playing on his phone. Nothing unusual there. Kevin Hazel was nothing if not a great lump of clay that made no demands on any of them.
Sloth frowned. Wait, something was different – there was a hint of need. Of ambition. Surely not; Sloth really didn’t want to lose this cushy setup. There was a tang of something else, something that didn’t activate his need to consume. Perhaps Kevin was immune.
“You see it too? Feel it?” Envy’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not only emanating from Kevin; that’s nascent. But something’s coming. It’s like the heaviness in the air before a storm.”
Yes, there was something. Sloth’s hands clenched under the fuzzy blanket wrapped around him. It was a threat to his peace and quiet, but nothing had changed yet. Envy’s interest was in the here and now.
“Why do you care? Surely Kevin isn’t of interest to you?” Cerulean eyes flared, glowing neon, and his voice dropped to a shocked whisper. “A mate? You and Kevin?”
Envy’s eyes glowed just as hotly. The verdant turned acidic. “That is inconsequential at the moment. And none of your business, Sloth.”
None of his business?! Was she insane? It was all of their business! They were the Seven Deadly Sins incarnate. And Kevin, well, Kevin was their escape hatch from Hell. Waiting for him in that stupid stasis crystal was an eternity in itself. Now this? It would destroy his carefully cultivated peace.
“What do you want? What machinations are percolating in that devious mind of yours?” Sloth stiffened when Envy’s slim fingers wrapped around his throat, sharp nails resting lightly on his carotid artery.
“Phil, nothing else matters. Nothing except Kevin. Do you understand? Our situation is—fluid. Precarious even. I’m going to need you to do what you do best and feed, should anyone attempt to disrupt the current state of affairs.”
Envy was truly terrifying. Plus, Sloth didn’t really care one way or another about her mating with Kevin. He hated how she called him Phil. His name was Phillip. Those sharp talons of hers were still pricking the skin of his throat, right over his pulse point. How in Heaven did she even know what his human name was, anyway?
“Sure. Whatever you want.” Sloth breathed a sigh of relief when those claws retracted. “What exactly do you want?”
Envy rose to her feet and adjusted the hood of her robe. “The magic here is disturbed. Find what’s doing it, and take care of it.”
Ugh, he actually had to get up. He was so comfortable. The leather recliner was broken in, well worn, but still providing quite a bit of support. Not to mention the leather was supple and felt like butter against his skin. However, Envy was right. They were tied to Kevin; tied by bond and deed through his bloodline. It would be unfortunate if Kevin was harmed, or, Hell-forbid, died before he could complete the bargain struck by his grandfather. Magic was fickle and, when influenced by witches, downright hazardous.
And you could bet that if Envy said something was coming, well, that was more than enough reason for Sloth to rouse himself from his indifference. The last time Envy even made a light recommendation, they all wound up on the Titanic. Management was extremely pleased with that, and it paved the way for their meeting the Hazel clan.
He pushed on the recliner, and groaned as his body was forced upright. Sloth gave it a moment before climbing to his feet and performing a bone-cracking stretch. Wrath’s eyes widened at his movement, but it was Greed who frowned.
“What’s happening? Why aren’t you in a coma? We’re all gonna die, aren’t we?”
Wow. Just wow. Sloth blinked at just how fast Greed spiraled. He’d always been kind of high strung, but this was on a whole ‘nother level. “I wasn’t in a coma.”
Greed reached up and began to tug at his hair with both fists. “Then why are you up?”
This—this was not good. Sloth actually looked around at his brethren. What the fuck? Since when did Lust have goddamn snakes for hair? He blinked, and seriously considered if he was hallucinating. Gluttony was grimacing as he crunched on a brilliant orange, rolled-up chip. Additionally, he was dressed in the most garish, floral-design muumuu Sloth had ever had the misfortune to see. Although, it did hide his rotund figure rather nicely.
Sloth glanced around, Where were Pride and Wrath? As he wandered across to the other side of the living room, he almost tripped over Wrath. For the love of...really? She was sitting in the lotus position and meditating? Ms. Burn-the-World-to-the-Ground-for-Fun? Now he was concerned. And understood Greed’s paranoia. None of them were acting normal. Ah, there was Pride.
Oh.
Where he had gotten the large, handheld mirror was anyone’s guess. But to be sitting at the dining room table like a statue just staring into it? Sloth got it; vanity was an aspect of pride, but there was something creepy about it. Pride’s gaze was not vain, but watchful.
“Yeah, I don’t think any of us realized the toll inactivity would have on us.”
Sloth jumped at Envy’s comment. There was something mesmerizing about Pride and his watchfulness. As if the other shoe was about to drop any second .
“And this is not what you want me to focus on? Not that I could help with any of our specific quirks?” Sloth glanced over at Kevin. “Is it worth it?”
Envy flexed her fingers, shiny, sharp talons topping each one. “Yes, Kevin is the key. Mate or no mate. There is a threat, and it is somewhere here.”
“Why not one of the others?” Sloth realized how stupid that question was as soon as it passed his lips. If there was an intruder somewhere nearby, the backlash of so much sin energy as it vied for supremacy would cause them all to turn on each other. “You’re doing something to mask the intruder aren’t you? Why not take care of it yourself? Being that this is more your problem than anyone else's.”
Envy stared at him so long he honestly thought she wouldn’t answer. And yet, the answer, when it came, was not really that surprising:
“All true, but I believe it’s Kevin’s brother, and frankly, the penile set annoys me.”
Yep. Witches and their matriarchal bullshit. But Envy was right about one thing. Kevin was the key, and none of them could afford to let something happen to him before he fulfilled his purpose. And, since he was the most sane at the moment—what a sad commentary that was—Sloth decided to search the house. It wasn’t like he could go outside.
“Keep an eye on Kevin. And the others. And continue whatever it is you’re doing.” Sloth took a deep breath and opened up his senses.
He wasn’t sure what it was like for the others, but, for his abilities, he honed in on the ambitions and drives of his victims. The ones with the most focus were the best. And somebody in the house was very, very focused. Damn Envy for always being right.
Following the energy wasn’t hard. Sloth barely had to make any effort as he started up the stairs. Then, he paused. Really? Although, it did make a certain kind of sense. Best to enter from upstairs, especially if you were aware the inhabitants tended to congregate downstairs.
“Who the fuck are you?”
Scratch that. Obviously there was no awareness of others in the house. Sloth leaned against the door frame of the master bedroom and regarded the interloper curiously. Definitely a Hazel with that cornsilk-blond hair and brown eyes. Although, aesthetically, Kevin had more refined and pleasing features.
Magic built in the air, and Sloth’s eyebrows shot up. This Hazel thought to attack. With no knowledge beyond ‘strange dude in house’? It was all moot anyway. Sloth’s essence was already working away at the homicidal intent. Eating through the certainty that the successful murder of Kevin was at hand.
“Silly witch.” Sloth pushed away from the door frame and stalked forward. “To think you could take what wasn’t yours? To think you could snuff out a life?”
Magic burst in the air, pressure and ozone coalescing until energy crackled between the witch’s hands. Sloth just rolled his eyes as the softball-sized energy ball flew across the room and slammed into his chest. It didn’t even slow him down. How foolish it was to arbitrarily attack? Hopefully Kevin was much smarter than this when not under a curse.
The smug triumph melted off the witch’s face. “What are you?”
Finally, an intelligent question. “For you, I’m the consequences. But, my friends call me Sloth.”
Horrified realization was plain to see in the wide, brown eyes and paling of skin. Not to mention the beads of sweat beginning to crop up on the upper lip. Sloth always wondered if the others got the same reaction when they revealed themselves to their victims. Granted, their approach was always very different from his. As were his methods of sin. While they nourished the sins found within their victims, he consumed their will until nothing was left. Until they were indifferent to any, and every, thing. It was a slow pro—well, shit.
Sloth blinked. Then blinked again. This had never happened before. He hadn’t even known he was capable of something like this.
“Whoa, dude.”
Sloth looked up and frowned at Kevin. He hadn’t even heard him. Further, he was shocked that Kevin was actually looking up from his phone.
“Is that Kenton?
Well this was a whole lotta awkward. Sloth’s eyebrows furrowed; how did Kevin know the mummified corpse was Kenton? The dried-out husk’s features were sunken, and already beginning to decay into dust.
“Yes?”
Kevin gave a sort of “huh” nod. “There’s a fancy sarcophagus in the basement. We’ll put him in that.”
Then he returned to the incessant tapping of his cell phone, and the sense of well-defined self shrank back into nothingness. That kind of freaked out Sloth. Although, Kevin’s roll-with-the-murdered-sibling attitude would certainly appeal to Envy. She murdered her own siblings, after all.
“I’m not cleaning that up.”
Sloth yawned because, of course, the others would have felt it, such a near death. “I’m not either. I did my part.”
Wrath wandered over to the remains and bent to examine them more closely. “You think our forced captivity is making us change? Cause, last time I checked, you couldn’t make mummies.”
Envy brushed past him and snorted. “Maybe. Either way, that’s one roadblock to Kevin taken care of. Greed, go get the sarcophagus. I know just where to display it.”
“Why do I have to go get it?” Greed’s whine was punctuated by him glancing around. “Who is that? How’d he get into the house?”
Envy just pushed her hood back until her glowing eyes were visible. Greed nodded. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’m going back to my chair.” Sloth left, letting them deal with the body.
Once resettled, a blanket wrapped snug around him, Sloth breathed a contented sigh. It felt good to get up, stretch his legs, and consume a person’s will to live. Now to sleep. Until the next disaster befell them.