Page 60 of Malice
“Now that’s what I like to see. Look at that initiative. Why can’t the rest of you be more like Lust?”
As suspected, that went over about as well as a bologna sandwich at a vegan food festival. But nothing motivates this lot quite as well as a bit of not-so-friendly competition.
“I don’t see why Lust is getting all the praise. My Knights have been scouring the whole of Europe looking for your vessel.”
I shot Envy a narrow-eyed glare. “Your name certainly fits. I’m really quite disappointed you aren’t actually green.”
Envy bared his teeth, which were a little too pointy for comfort. Add in a forked tongue, and he’d have made an excellent snake. I should know.
See what I did there? Aren’t I just the most clever boy at the ball? One might even call me a fox.
“Tracking her is the most important, of course, but we can’t stop with simply finding her,” Greed mused.
“What do you mean by that?” Gluttony asked.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “She means, you absolute imbecile, that there are more adversaries on the horizon. I mustclaim my bride and procreate, but time is of the essence. There are those out in the world who seek to block her from view, and we must stop them.”
“Which is where I come in,” Pride interjected, ever the eager puppy. “My Knights are hot on the heels of the Siren coven. All four of them.”
My skin prickled with rage at the mention of the coven who imprisoned me over a quarter of a century ago. Unfairly, might I add.
Death cleared her throat.
“Have something to add?”
“Well, since you asked,” she said, giving me a blindingly bright smile. Annoying as her incessantly cheerful personality was, I didn’t hate her. She was instrumental in releasing me from my cage, after all. “I think your focus on collecting adversaries is narrow-minded. What you really need are allies.” She paused for dramatic effect, her lips curling into a self-indulgent smirk. “Especially unwilling ones.”
“You know how I hate it when you speak in riddles,” I snapped.
“No riddles, my lord. The four of us created the most powerful allies you could possibly need. One who is instrumental in bringing about the antichrist. Do you really think we would allow them to truly defeat us without a backup plan for exactly this scenario?”
If she didn’t get to the point soon, I was going to have her chained on the wall like I had Famine. Raising one eyebrow, I gestured for her to go on.
“No matter how they might feel about us, they’re linked to us forever,” War pointed out.
“Unfortunately,” Pestilence sneered, none too happy with her sons. Though, who would be after such a betrayal?
Death waved a hand. “We don’t care about feelings. All we need is their power. It was ours first, and it will always be ours. We just have to collect it.” She tossed me a wink. “Worked beautifully the last time.”
“How are you going to do that? Do you even know where they are?” Pride asked haughtily.
War snapped her gaze to him. “Of course you would ask such a stupid question. A mother always knows. They think we are gone. They have no reason to hide from us. And now that the second generation is growing, we will have even more power to siphon.”
“Do we really want a new batch of watered-down demons running amok?” Pestilence asked.
It took everything in me not to say “amok, amok, amok” out loud.
“I thought you’d be pleased to be a grandmother,” Death teased.
“Those little brats she is carrying aren’t related to me. Pan and Asher haven’t yet contributed anything more than disappointment to our cause.”
I hummed quietly to myself as the idea percolated. I hadn’t considered the power of the horsewomen’s bloodlines.
“All the more reason to seduce them to our cause,” Death said.
Lust’s smile had the temperature in the room ratcheting up. “Excellent choice of words.”
Death beamed. “So glad you approve.”
