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Chapter

Sixteen

GLUTTONY

S omething was wrong.

The boys either hadn’t realized it yet, or were trying to gather themselves to tell me together. None of them ever had the courage to face me by themselves.

Well, not entirely true. Lust would, but as the one sin who bridged the gap between my distinguished self and the much younger sins, he normally took it upon himself to mother them.

Not that I was complaining. I wasn’t the nurturing type.

Gluttony came in many forms, after all.

The sun was annoyingly bright. This was why I rarely left my house.

Well, that and the vampirism, but at my age the sun was only a mild irritant.

Humans vexed me far more, but at least my appearance could be explained away as albinism.

These days, all I needed to pass among them was a good pair of sunglasses.

“There is a rumbling in the force...” I mumbled to no one, squinting through my shades to ensure I had the right building.

Eternal Matches.

“How droll.”

I sat myself outside at a small metal table across the street. What the humans passed as ‘coffee’ nowadays was appalling. Oh, to have coffee fresh from the mountain source in Yemen! Absolutely divine!

But alas, I must make do.

“Caramel macchiato,” I uttered to the waitress. She turned to leave and I couldn’t help myself at the smell emanating from the small cafe.

“And a chocolate chip cookie. Make it two.”

My sin purred happily under my veins. I tried to indulge in the most harmless of ways when available to me.

The waitress gave me a knowing wink and walked off.

Nothing better than a warm chocolate chip cookie...

I frowned at the odd tension that continued to hang in the air, and dismissed it as I could find nothing amiss.

I’d meant to bring all of this up subtly at the family dinner, just to test my younger brothers to see if they could sense the shift and discontent around them.

Shifting through the chaotic magick levels of the earth was part of the job, and the sooner they could regulate their sins, then sooner we could try to get everything back to a manageable level.

Waking gods, indeed.

And had I gotten a chance to turn dinner into a lesson like I’d wanted? No, of course not. The entire thing had gone off the rails into a conversation about some girl .

My ego still stung from the barb Lust had thrown at it. Purposefully, to deflect the argument about the human girl, but still.

“I’ll have a caramel macchiato, please.”

My head whipped around as a woman sat down at the table behind me and ordered. I closed my eyes and summoned my short-term memory, which as a vampyre could catalogue and store everything around me with my conscious attention.

Delicately, I reached out with my magick to touch her aura.

Witch. Powerful. And...oddly fresh.

The waitress brought my order and I managed a stiff smile, my fingers curling around the plastic cup and relishing the heat.

Was this her? The witch reanimated by Pride, employed with Lust, and being hunted by Envy?

I hated people. I only conversed with my brothers, and those I must for business. Casual conversation wasn’t something I tolerated. Which made it further shocking when I leaned backward toward her and opened my stupid, stupid mouth.

“There isn’t much actual coffee in it,” I drawled.

Her head snapped up at me angry and irritated, an insult likely already on her lips. But when she saw me she froze for a split second, her face softening. Then it hardened again.

“And?” she rudely shot back.

Oh ho, she had fire in her. Just like–

I stuffed all such thoughts down deep, where they’d never see the light of day.

“And...just thought you should know,” I finished lamely, distracted by the small strands of red that flashed in her hair, likely only visible when the sunlight caught them just so. Large, expressive eyes flashed a dozen different emotions at me, before settling on scorn.

She snorted. “I suppose the only ‘proper’ cup is straight black?”

Her anger was odd, but understandable. I used that tone myself when talking to other people, so I was not put off by her demeanor.

“Well, that wouldn’t be quite so,” I corrected her gently. “As the original way coffee was consumed wasn’t by liquid at all! They used to fix the fruit and beans with animal fat, and roll it up to chew. Almost like an ancient protein bar!”

The woman seemed more bewildered than impressed by my knowledge. Humans these days; they weren’t impressed by personal knowledge anymore. Thanks, Google.

And now you have rambled on about your hyper fixations and lost her.

“I have disturbed your afternoon,” I offered. “My apologies.”

Again, this is why you don’t go out in public much. Consorting with humans and conforming to all the social niceties was trying and exhausting. Plus they changed too much...several times a century! How was anyone supposed to keep up?

“Oh, no! That is...sorry. I’m Juniper.”

I blinked as she didn’t take my easy excuse to cease communication, instead extending her hand and offering it, and her name.

The proper thing to do is give yours back, my manners whispered at me.

But I couldn’t. Humans didn’t understand–

If she’s the witch, then she already knows.

But if she wasn’t?

Who cares? Humans these days have all kinds of odd names.

“G,” I offered with distaste, using the nickname I knew my brothers used for me behind my back.

She drew her hand back a little, head tilting to the side. Her eyes narrowed.

“Charmed,” she said.

“I would hope so,” I tried to joke, pointing half-heartedly at the match-making studio across the street from us.

She rolled her eyes. “May I join you? Seems silly to talk to you with two tables between us, and you twisted around like that.”

“Yes,” I said, for some strange reason.

Her smile was genuine, lighting up her face as she picked up her cup and purse and sat down right next to me, rather than across from me as I expected.

The waitress spied the change in configuration, passing by the table with a bright smile. “Do you need–”

“Put his on this, and you know what, bring one of those enormous banana nut muffins.” She slapped down a twenty dollar bill on the table, and turned to me. “You want anything else?”

I shook my head curtly, lips thinning as I tried to keep my face neutral. I was as old-school as they came based on my age, and though I recognized the importance of female independence, it still rankled me when one tried to pay for anything in the company of a perfectly able gentleman.

“Oh, don’t give me that sour face. It isn’t even my money,” she huffed at me, crossing her arms across her chest as the waitress took the bill with a strained smile and walked away.

“Did Lust try to bribe you?” I guessed, unable to help myself.

Her fingers clutched the cup harder, the sudden tension in her shoulders so slight I almost missed it. Her head tilted up, brown hair falling across her eyes.

“And which one would that make you? ” she asked, her voice deadpan.

I folded my hands neatly on the cold iron table, my beverage forgotten. “Guess.”

Juniper snorted. “That’s the only fun you get out of it, don’t you? Making people guess?” She took a long drink from her coffee, smacking her lips in relish. My eyes tracked the pink fullness of her bottom lip.

“Lust and Pride are in there.” She gestured haphazardly to the Eternal Matches building. You’re not Envy. Lust made some...odd comments about Wrath.”

Something in me twitched at hearing her say the name of our missing sin. Her eyes took me in, judging me harshly. They flicked to the untouched coffee.

We both fell silent as the waitress returned with a laughably large muffin. The moment she was gone, Juniper dove back in.“Hmm. That leaves Greed or Gluttony, doesn’t it?”

My nostrils flared.

“I don’t appreciate the sarcastic tone,” I said stiffly.

She tilted the muffin toward me, offering some. I shook my head.

“Hmm,” she pondered, looking at me like I was a puzzle to solve.

It rankled me, and raised my ire.

“Greed and Gluttony do not only exist for material possessions,” I grit out. “How childish.”

She laughed.

“So what are you doing here then? Is it related to why Pride suddenly showed up?” Her voice took on a more angry, despondent tone at mentioning Pride.

Interesting . Obviously my brothers are not in her good graces at the moment.

“Pride and Lust can both be idiots–all of them, really. It is my curse and blessing to try and shepherd them as best I can.”

Her gaze pinned me so quickly and with such intensity that I went still.

“Don’t try to manipulate me. You’re the ringleader of all of them, aren’t you?”

My lips parted slightly at the accusation; she was treating me like a naughty ruffian running rampant with a gang, not a centuries old vampyre who was the head of the seven sins!

She is fearless. She is–

No.

“No wonder you butt heads with Lust. You are disagreeable,” I spit out, swiping my coffee and taking a drink just to have something to do. I was met with lukewarm coffee.

Urgh.

Juniper laughed without any humor.

“Oh ho, yes, the ‘just call her a bitch’ defense. Well-played. You’re so worldly.” She clapped once, then stopped as a cat materialized under the table, growling at me as it twined itself between Juniper’s legs.

“That’s one of Hades’s Shadow Demon cats,” I noted dumbly.

Her utter lack of reaction to this news was almost as concerning.

“Damon’s an excellent judge of character. Aren’t you, darling?” Her fingers danced around the black cat’s chin as it purred loudly, opening one red eye long enough to glare at me.

A clear dismissal.

I stood.

“Right. Well, as you so clearly stated, your brothers are idiots. Cheers that you prove yourself...not.”

Without another word she stood, pushing away from the table, turning on her heel, and heading back across the street.

I took an unconscious step toward her and a deep, monstrous growl emanated from beneath the table.