24. Bree

My pillow is hard and keeps moving. I try to lift my head, but my body feels displaced, disorganized, disoriented. Honestly, I can't think of the word because my brain is just not processing anything. "How are you feeling?"

"Head hurts." I don't know if the words were actually spoken, but I really don't care. My back is cold and gross. Like when you let sweat dry on its own.

"That's normally what happens when you've been choked unconscious. Glad you're awake, though." I can hear the smugness in his voice. Normally, my brain would want to take him down a peg, but I just don't have the energy to. "I'm hungry. Is it still Sunday?"

His laughter shakes me. I'm on top of him. I slowly move to lift myself up; however, his large hand starts massaging my head. I'm definitely not getting up now. "It's not even two in the afternoon. You've only been comatose for twenty minutes." Mammon's hand is so soothing. Who cares that I just woke up from a nap? I want to go back to sleep now. "Tell me about her."

The words were mumbled, and my addled brain barely heard it. I'm sure he's talking about Maw. "She was amazing. She was the librarian at our local high school. She's where I got my love of books from."

He laughs softly, making my face jiggle against his stomach. "You read smut books with your grandmother?"

That forces me to sit up so I can look him directly in the eyes. "Who said I read smut?" His eyebrow rises as if to say ‘really'. "We read romance, yes. If she read smut, I didn't know about it." All of my favorite memories of her run through my mind and I can feel my eyes begin to water. "Every Sunday, after church, we would have a family supper. That weird space between lunch and dinner. Some of my friends would come or some of Paw's athletes would stop by. It was rarely just the three of us. The town loved them so much…" I hold back a sob. "I loved them so much."

Mammon pulls me back against his chest and holds me. "You know? My brothers and I rarely get together for a family meal. The only time we're ever in the same place anymore is in the throne room when we're giving out punishments. Even then, it's rare."

I pull back from him, looking into his dark amber eyes. Was he offering to get everyone together for a family meal so I could feel a part of a family again? Even if he wasn't, it's in my head now. "We could have a family dinner." His eyes grow wide, telling me that he was just talking and not offering. "No, really! We can talk about the bet and what's expected of me and maybe we can get some hints about who keeps saving me or whatever! I can cook a big family dinner for all of us! Y'all have a kitchen, right?!" I've gotten up and started towards the room to get dressed in a cute little black skater dress.

I guess I was always meant to be with the Sins since most of my wardrobe is black. I've always been an ‘alt' girl, though.

The menu for the night is already running through my head. I'll need to make an abundance of food because I have a feeling Sweetie will eat half of it by himself.

Walking back into the living room, I go to my own kitchen and grab the family cookbook that was left to me after Maw's death. I shove it in my tote bag, along with my laptop. With everything going on, I haven't been writing like I want to, and I have so many new ideas. Envy took me to that supernatural restaurant. I bet I could ask someone else to take me, like Beelzebub, so I can ask questions.

Mammon is still sitting on my couch, naked, staring at me as though I have multiple heads. "Get dressed! I'll wake up Rellick."

It takes a minute to get him up. Waking up is the only time he's ever really grumpy. He was quick to get up and dressed when I mentioned going visit the Sins. He's becoming so close to them. I hope allowing them in my son's life wasn't a horrible mistake. Then again… it's not like I really had a choice.

Mammon is back in his demon orc form when we reenter the living room. "Let's go."

"Brianna. I need to warn you that not all my brothers may be able to get out of work. We may be kings, but we still have duties. This may not go the way you planned." I nod my acknowledgment and Mammon opens a portal to Hell.

We enter into the throne room where Lucifer sits with a few souls standing before him. "Hi, Luc!" Rellick yells out causing everyone to pause and stare at us.

"Hello, Rellick." His smile looks forced. "Brianna, Mammon." He nods his head in acknowledgement.

"What you doing?" Rellick runs to Pride's throne and holds his arms up. Lucifer looks at him confused and then to me for answers. "Pick me up, Luc," my son commands. The King of Pride looks to me for permission, I guess. I give him nothing. He can figure it out himself.

After a few moments, he lifts Rellick, who spins to sit in Pride's lap. He repeats his question while observing the souls. "They're here for punishments."

Rellick's eyes grow wide, and he audibly gasps. "I don't like being punished. What they do? Run in the hall? Mommy doesn't like that."

Lucifer's smile eases, turning genuine "Oh, much worse. This is Windell Taylor. He killed his wife because she ‘ruined' his image."

I appreciate that he's not treating Rellick as a baby, but he doesn't know what any of that means. Opening my mouth to inform them, Rellick cuts me off. "Killed? Guess he has to walk the plank. You have a plank, right?"

"What?" I cry out. Lucifer and Rellick both turn to me. "What do you mean he has to ‘walk the plank'? What do you know about killing?"

"Captain Hook had the lost boys walk the plank. That's how you kill." He speaks in his sassy sarcasm. As though I'm supposed to know this. I suppose it's my own fault for letting him watch all Peter Pan related movies.

I check my phone to see that it's almost three PM. Rellick and Luc are having their own conversation, ignoring the souls in the middle of the room. "Will you be done by seven?"

"Why?" Purple eyes stare into mine. They really are the nicest shade, a ring of gold surrounding the outside. Reminds me of LSU, my grandfather's favorite college football team.

I shake my head to clear it. I will not be distracted by pretty purple eyes. And this dinner will fucking happen! "I'm making dinner, and we will eat all together by seven-thirty at the latest."

Lucifer gives a soft chuckle, like I'm joking. "Darling, I am very busy-"

"I'm making dinner," I cut him off. "We will eat all together by seven-thirty." Without giving him the chance to respond, I walk up to him, grabbing Rellick off his lap before leaving the room.

Once the doors close behind us, I ask Mammon to show me the kitchen. It's a state-of-the-art, chef's kitchen. I've never cooked in one of these before, but I'll figure it out. It can't be that hard.

It's fucking hard.

The kitchen in my apartment is miniscule whereas this kitchen was meant for a restaurant. There're four stoves! I'm able to do what I need to do but I am just so stressed! I told the few punished souls who work the kitchen that I didn't need help. They kept giving opinions on recipes they had no business in. I don't need that kind of negativity.

Then I had to kick Beelzebub out! He came in to say that Mammon told him about the dinner, and he was excited to help any way he can. He then proceeded to take bites of everything. They weren't small bites either! He had to leave.

Mammon ended up taking Rellick who knows where because, while he normally cooks with me, he was driving me insane. I put too much stress on myself for this dinner.

With meeting Maw's reincarnation and just talking about and remembering her most of the day, I wanted to celebrate her and our family tradition. The dinner hasn't even started yet!

I check the time on my phone again. It's almost seven pm. The mac cheese just has to broil for a few more minutes and everything will be done. I've made chicken and sausage gravy, loaded mashed potatoes, baked mac cheese, garlic bread, steamed vegetables, and rice to go under the gravy.

Once the mac is done, I plate everything, making sure none of Rellick's food touches and giving Sweetie extra helpings of everything. I move to the dining room that Mammon showed me to see him, Beelzebub, and Belphegor sitting at a long thin table already. Rellick is sitting in Beelzebub's lap.

Well, that just won't do. I won't be able to see everyone. "Sweets?" My voice is on the verge of cracking, because of how stressed and overwhelmed I am.

He immediately stops talking to his brothers and focuses all his attention on me. I love that. "Yes, Honey?"

"Do you have a round table?" His insect head turns to the side. I can't tell his facial expressions because of his demon form. "Everyone needs to be able to see each other. A round table works best and would feel more intimate." Lust chuckles as he enters the room, and my nerves must be so bad that it doesn't affect me. "I just mean, that I want to feel close."

"Like a family," Mammon says, his voice low. I nod my head in response. My golden statue stands, motioning for the others to do the same. He snaps his fingers, and the room clears of all the tables, leaving on a large round one behind with multiple chairs. "How's that Treasure?"

I beam at him, a weight taken off my shoulders. "This is perfect!" I run back into the kitchen, grab a cart from against the wall, and begin placing the plates on it, making sure to differentiate Rellick and Gluttony. I push it into the dining room where more Sins have joined. The only sin missing is now Lucifer.

"You know we have souls to do this, right?" Satan's voice is deep and gravelly, but right now it's just pissing me off. "They're being punished for a reason, and you gave them the night off."

"Well, I needed this dinner to go a specific way and they were aggravating me. Make them clean the kitchen or something." I start putting plates in front of demons, placing my own plate in the empty spot between Rellick and Mammon. Beelzebub is on Rellick's other side.

As I move to sit, I realize I forgot silverware and I have to take a deep breath to calm myself down. I took on too much today trying to be the Great Anna Boudreaux. "You did amazing, Treasure," Mammon whispers against my hair. He blinks and the table looks the way I wanted it to, with a pretty tablecloth, silverware, and napkins. How did he know? Greed pulls out my chair for me and the Sins who were standing follow me. We're all sitting at the table, food ready in front of us, waiting for Lucifer.

Beelzebub moves to take a bite of his food, but I stop him. "We can't eat until everyone is at the table." I check the time on my phone again, seeing it's seven-twenty-eight. Angel's got two minutes.