Chapter 4

ChapterFour

This need was an addiction. Gluttony knew the word for it, at least the word his brothers used. He had a better one.

Obsession.

Gluttony didn’t have to drink blood. He could exist without it and had for many years of his life. And it wasn’t just anyone’s blood that called to him. Sure, he would take whatever was offered, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed it. But sometimes there was a certain blood that was just so divine that it swallowed up all rational thought. He could smell it, suck it into his nose and in his throat until he tasted a bit of that elixir.

Addiction. Obsession. The same meaning but one word made him feel slightly better about himself.

Leaning back at his desk, a rarely used piece of furniture in his home, he pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to convince himself that he was all right. Gluttony didn’t need blood. He didn’t need to go back to that poor woman’s window, where he could scent her on the breeze.

He wasn’t a stalker. This was just any other night where he had to look into the substance that could be used to attack both him and his brothers. He needed to figure out the reasoning for it, or maybe there was another alchemical recounting that could tell him where to go from here.

And yet, no matter how far he tried to guide his mind, he always landed back in the same place.

Her.

“Get a hold of yourself,” he growled. The sound of his own voice did nothing, however, and he finally snapped.

Slamming his palm down on his desk, he conjured up the small disk that could connect him to any of his brothers. A simple call would help. Maybe. He’d always called the same brother, who always answered no matter how many times he called in the middle of the night.

The magic zinged, fraying through the realms until it delved underneath the stone of the second kingdom. Envy’s home was a pile of rock, after all. His people had tunneled deep into the earth, creating a mountainous home worthy of the dwarven legends of old. Envy had burrowed so deep that it was difficult for even magic to get through it.

And then there he was. His brother. Shimmering to life in a blue light, glowing on the other side of the desk and seated just as Gluttony had expected him to be.

Envy was strange compared to all the rest of them. More human, if that was even possible. Perhaps because he had one of the baser emotions, like Lust, who also appeared almost human at first glance.

Envy had dark inky hair like Gluttony, but he was infinitely more broad. Square faced, strong featured, his eyes cut through everything and anything that stood before him. Top that with his shoulders that were so wide he barely fit in a chair, and the thousands of tattoos that covered every area of his body other than his face, neck, and hands? The man was terrifying and otherworldly. It fit his kingdom, though, and his people knew better than to test their terrifying king.

Tonight, however, Envy didn’t look as intimidating as usual. He had a glass of something in his hand, probably mead, knowing his brother, and his eyes were a little foggy.

“Late night for you, Gluttony,” Envy said, his words slightly slurred. “I thought you were supposed to be fixing our problem.”

“It’s no small problem to fix.”

“And yet, you were the one who grabbed the task.” A bright flash of emerald made his brother’s eyes glow even through the projection. And there it was. Envy.

Of course, his brother had likely thought he would get the esteemed role of figuring out what this new weapon was. Envy, after all, was more in touch with magic than the rest of them. Even Pride, although his eldest brother, wouldn’t ever admit it.

His brother’s downfall was that Envy wanted what he didn’t have. He didn’t care what it was, like Greed, who collected rare objects and artifacts. Envy wanted what others had, period. If it was just a speck of dirt on their shoe, he would take it.

Both Greed and Envy hated each other. Perhaps because they saw their own flaws in each other.

“That’s not why I’m calling,” Gluttony grumbled. He wished he had a glass of good wine, but then he remembered that red wine looked like blood.

His brother’s drink did not. Amber and glistening, made of honey, no doubt. He could almost smell it. The honey that would pour down his throat, burning along the way down like fingernails scratching at him. Begging him to stop... No, that wasn’t what he wanted. Begging him to continue—

“Ah,” Envy said, sitting forward in his chair and eyeing Gluttony like the project he was. “A bad night, then.”

“The worst in a long time.” Gluttony raked his hands through his hair, shocked when he couldn’t even get his fingers through the tangled snarls.

His hair was down to his ribs in a waterfall of darkness. He had to brush it often, or it would snarl like this. When was the last time he’d brushed it? When was the last time he’d even thought about what he looked like while he stood outside her window, like the animal he had become?

“Gluttony,” Envy said, his voice breaking through the thoughts. “Tell me.”

The words rushed out of him. “There is a woman in the village. I’ve never seen her before, but I don’t go there anymore, now do I? I know how I make them all nervous. It’s not fair for me to wander amongst them when I know what I am. A monster. The beast who torments and feeds off his people. I understand their hesitation, but I can’t stop. No matter how hard I try. I can’t... I can’t...”

“Take a deep breath. You’re spiraling, brother.” Envy leaned forward again, tapping his hand on his own desk, but the sound still came through. Steady thuds. One, two, three, in time with the breath that Gluttony was supposed to be taking.

But every time he breathed in, it was like her scent was stuck in his nose. He could smell her. Taste her on the back of his tongue. Just the slightest hint of flavor that wasn’t the true bloom of how she’d really taste and he knew it would be so much better if he could just sink his teeth into the side of that lovely, swan-like neck and draw everything of her deeply into his mouth. Would she even let him?

“What did you do?” Envy’s voice broke through again.

“Nothing.” Gluttony blew out a long breath, drawing himself back to his lonely office with his brother, who wasn’t even here. “I haven’t done anything with her, to her, or around her. She’s just... there. In her room. And I stand as far back as I can without waking her.”

He let the words trail off, though, because they weren’t entirely true. She had woken. Just a few nights ago, she’d seen him standing there, and she’d reacted like a hellhound had come to hunt her soul.

Envy’s eyes narrowed, and he knew his brother had seen the thought pass in front of his eyes. “So you did something, then.”

“She saw me a few nights ago, and I’ve been here ever since.” He lifted his arms and let them fall limp back onto the chair. “I can’t seem to move. If I stand, my feet take me to the door and if I sit here, at least I’m not bothering her.”

“It’s been a long time since you’ve been this obsessed.”

“I know,” he snarled. “That’s why I called you.”

Perhaps it was something in his tone that finally got through to his brother. Envy seemed to shake off the effects of his alcohol and nodded. “So this one is different, then. Tell me why.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t said a word to her before, nor do I know what she does in the town. She always smells like blood, though.” Perhaps she worked at the almshouse. It wasn’t animal blood that followed her around like the ghost of another person. It was human blood. “The other blood isn’t the temptation. If anything, it’s a good mask, because I hate the smell of them on her skin. Hers though... It’s underneath all of it. It’s honey and wine, a mixture of scents that I cannot seem to banish from my thoughts.”

“When was the last time you fed?”

“Not long ago.” Gluttony could feel his cheeks pale at the memory. Even now, his stomach rolled at the flavor that remained when he burped. “It was less than satisfactory. I spent hours vomiting afterward.”

“And she had freely given herself to you?” Where was his brother going with this?

“Of course she did,” he snapped. “I haven’t taken anyone unwillingly since the first, and even then, you know she had... she’d...”

His dear Larissa. The only young woman who had ever looked at him and seen something other than a monster. She’d been so kind and sweet to him for the two months that she wandered up to his castle. She was the first he’d ever fed from, completely unwilling at the time, and she’d been terrified of him afterwards. But he’d gotten a taste for the forbidden and suddenly she hadn’t... minded.

Oh, she hadn’t sought him out to feed from her. Of course. No woman in her right mind enjoyed the sensation of someone sucking out their life blood, but she had endured it. For him.

Until she’d shown up on his doorstep that fateful night and then everything had gone to shit.

Dragging a hand down his mouth, Gluttony shook his head. “No reason to bring that up now. You know the story.”

Some of his brothers believed him, others didn’t. Wrath didn’t care what the actual story was. All he cared about was that a woman was dead and it was Gluttony’s fault.

And it had been. In a way.

Envy pursed his lips, tilting his head back to the ceiling as he thought. One of his tattoos writhed underneath his skin. The four snakes usually rested above his heart in a knitted pattern, but sometimes they moved. This time, one slithered up to encircle his neck and hovered above the pulse there. “Forgive me for suggesting this, brother, but do you believe the consent is the problem?”

Icy cold dread settled hard in his belly like he’d swallowed cement. “What do you mean?”

“All the women since La—since the first—have offered themselves to you. Freely given. Blood that they wanted you to have in exchange for something else, yes?”

He nodded.

“Then perhaps the issue is that you want to take it. I understand the feeling, and trust me, I’ve had my fair share of enjoyment in taking what isn’t mine to take.” Envy’s eyes flashed before he settled. “So. Perhaps that is your problem.”

He rolled the thought around in his mind. But it wasn’t the right one. He could feel that it didn’t fit, like he was trying to thrust an explanation into the puzzle of this problem. “No, I don’t believe it’s that. My vice has never been about taking, but consuming.”

“And yet you are consuming and nothing is satisfying.” Envy tossed his hands up in the air. “Unless, perhaps, you are toying with the thought of actually eating this one? I’ve heard human flesh tastes particularly different from anything else.”

The thought was also wrong. No, he didn’t want to chew through the muscles and sinew of this woman’s body. There were parts of it he wanted to discover. He’d really only seen the general outline of her shape.

Gluttony wanted to leave bite marks between her thighs, upon her breasts, throughout her entire body. He wanted to claim and mark and ruin for her anyone else because he had consumed every part of her body, but that wasn’t the same as eating.

He could devour her whole and still leave her breathing.

Gluttony shook his head with a frustrating sigh. “I don’t know what it is about this one. Nothing has changed in my life. She is just another villager who wants nothing to do with me, and is well within her right to not want that, so I don’t understand the need. I don’t understand any of this.”

His brother shrugged again. “You will have to figure it out, though, won’t you? Wrath made it very clear. You can no longer take what isn’t freely offered, and you’ve been getting enough offerings to keep your strength up. If you snap, you know the threat.”

Yes, they all knew the threat that Wrath had barked out in angry words unlike any Gluttony had ever heard out of his brother.

If he stepped out of line again, endangering all of their brothers by provoking his own kingdom into mutiny, then Wrath would return. He had killed spirits before, though never one as strong as Gluttony. They would battle to the death and no one questioned who would win in that situation.

Gluttony didn’t think death for them was anything like the humans. For spirits like himself, it was simply extinguishing a candle. There one moment, gone the next.

He swallowed hard. He knew the risk he took in focusing on this woman. If he kept tormenting the little human, then maybe he would incite another riot. Wrath would return, even though Gluttony had yet to do anything wrong.

Fangs tingling, claws stretching as though they were ready to defend him, Gluttony nodded again. “I know, brother. The risk will always be there for me, no matter how many necks I bite.”

“Then keep everything to yourself. Find a way to get this woman to offer herself to you and slake your thirst.” Envy set his drink down hard, a gleam in his eyes. “Prove to her and yourself that you can get whatever you want. You’re the king of your kingdom, Gluttony! Command her to your castle. Woo her if you must, but get rid of this obsession and quickly.”

“You’re right.” He lied. Lied straight through his teeth while looking his brother in the eyes, as if this wasn’t a problem at all. “I’ll set this all to rights. Thank you for speaking with me this late at night.”

“Next time call when you have an answer about that damned weapon the mortals built.”

Envy disappeared and Gluttony was left alone with his thoughts and the lies that swirled around him.

He would get control of himself? He’d told his brother he could, but… he wasn’t convinced.

Gluttony didn’t know if he had that ability. If he did, he wouldn’t end up at her window every single night. Looking forlornly into her room while she quaked in her bed.

He just... needed.

Damn it, he needed, and he didn’t know what that need was or why it had suddenly appeared. But he desperately wanted to crawl underneath those covers with her and bury his face in that honey scent for just a few moments. Just enough so that this damned ache in his body would stop for two seconds so he could go back to himself.

He feared this obsession would drive him to ruin.