Page 30 of Sin

Death did not have emotions.

Death did not need anybody.

I repeated these mantras, wrapping them around me like armor until my control slipped firmly back into place.

“So, what do you think, Grim?” Sin asked, pulling me from my thoughts. I’d clearly missed some asinine plan.

“Whatever gets her pregnant fastest.”

Malice’s narrowed gaze met mine. “How does Sin leaving to feed get Merri pregnant?”

“Wait, what?”

“Told you he wasn’t listening,” Sin muttered.

Fuck. Merri’s presence had me spun up in ways I wasn’t prepared for. It was best I keep my distance for everyone’s sake. I was a liability. The biggest kink in our plan. If I slipped up and touched her, all hell would literally break loose.

Well, technically, it would be a couple decades later, once the next vessel was located and inseminated. But what were a few decades when you’d walked the earth since it was first formed?

“You can’t leave. None of us can. The last thing we need is one of Lucifer’s lackeys following you here.”

“Because hiding in the penthouse you’ve owned for just under a century isn’t an obvious place to look,” Chaos muttered.

Sin groaned. “C’mon, man. I’m starving.”

“Feed from her.”

He rolled his eyes, his favorite response. Then he spoke slowly, as though I were a child. “She is cel-i-bate. I can’t.”

“I never thought I’d live to see the day these words left my lips, but... Sin has a point.”

Sin’s mouth dropped open as his attention snapped to Chaos. “Say that again. More slowly this time.”

Chaos snorted but sat up straighter in his chair, looking to me. “He needs to feed. I need to fight. We are in a pressure cooker here. If I don’t release my mounting violence, you know what will happen.”

The memory of what had happened in my office just the other day was the mere tip of the iceberg when it came to what Chaos could do. He had to siphon off his violence regularly, or he was liable to bury us all beneath this entire tower and the city block it stood on.

“Fine. You make a good point, but drawing attention to ourselves is a risk. You and I both know this.” It would be naive to think War wouldn’t already have considered this. He was a brilliant tactician. “We will all spar with you between fights. Keep your encounters to the absolute minimum. Both of you.” I shot a pointed glare at Sin, who loved to be in the spotlight.

“You and Malice will have to step up if we’re gone. You understand that, right? You two can’t ignore her. She’ll leave.”

Chaos wasn’t wrong. I nodded in response, adjusting my gloves out of habit.

“I’ll do what must be done.”

Malice muttered something unintelligible under his breath, but I could only assume it was also some form of begrudging assent.

“That’s all well and good for Chaos, but I have to feed frequently and intentionally. It’s a hunger that’s never sated. You know this.” Sin shook out his shoulders as though he was ridding himself of an unwanted bit of clothing. The incubus was struggling even as he tried to disguise it with bravado. “My minimum is still more than you’re going to approve of. Especially when none of you are willing to help me out and the buffet-de-Merri is closed.”

Malice cleared his throat, distracting me from my rapidly growing ire as my shadows began spreading across the floor.

“She feeds by camming. Why can’t you?”

Sin opened his mouth, likely to protest, but closed it as his expression turned considering. “I’ve never needed to, but there might be something to it. All those adoring fans of mine are going to need to turn somewhere now that the tour’s ruined.”

So that’s why Sin kept muttering, “This is going to ruin the tour,”when he arrived in Hel’s prison. The fucker was still living out his rock star dreams.

Malice checked his watch. “Merri’s about to start one of her daily sessions. Why don’t you test it out? Your room is next to hers, so if nothing else, maybe the proximity alone will benefit you.”

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