Sloth

by L-J Baker

  "Lucifer is right," Harley said. "Moving something while your enemy is ready to pounce isn't smart."

  Uriel glared at Harley.

  "Just so we're all clear," Cupid said, to no one in particular. "This thing's purpose is to break open the gates of Hell? So that every damned soul there can escape unhindered?"

  Cupid was pale, like all the blood had drained from his body, and the empty shell was all that was left. It caught Luc's interest, since Cupid was normally the most pompous ass in the room, never letting anyone see even a hint of fear on him.

  "Is that what the myth says?" Luc asked him, wanting to see where it would go.

  "That's how the story goes, though you can't always believe what you hear," Cupid said and gulped down the rest of his drink.

  Az opened his mouth to speak, but Luc held up one finger to stop him.

  "And do you think that's true?" Luc asked Cupid.

  Cupid shook his head. "I hope not, but if it is, it makes even less sense. Why would Michael want something like that? Life as we know it would be destroyed."

  "Yes, it would."

  All eyes were on Cupid. Even Uriel was intrigued now. They waited, letting Luc see through whatever it was he was doing.

  "It's true, isn't it?"

  "It is. And you helped him get this far. What do you think will happen to you and your little love games when demons are walking the Earth, en masse?"

  Cupid glanced around for the mage out of the corner of his eye. She was already gone, and now that they were talking about the tablet, Luc was glad. There was something going on with those two and Luc wanted to know what it was immediately. He had to play his cards right though, or he would get nothing.

  "I'm not feeling well. I think I'll go lay down for a bit." Cupid excused himself and practically ran for his basement room.

  "What's up with that guy? He's being weirder than usual," Az said, pointing a thumb in the direction Cupid took off to.

  "I'm not sure but maybe him and the mage shouldn't be included in strategy meetings until we know. In fact," Luc said. "I don't think the mage needs to have any information that doesn't assist in whatever it is she's supposed to be doing here."

  Everyone remained quiet while they watched Cupid make his way across the club and disappear down the back stairwell.

  "I don't trust those two at all." It was Uriel to speak up first, but they were all thinking the same thing.

  "Cupid seemed genuinely disturbed to find out what it was Michael was after, like he hadn't already known," Luc said. "But that doesn't mean that there's not something else going on. We need to get to the bottom of this. It's not just our asses on the line here."

  "Agreed," Uriel said and disappeared without another word. Luc hoped she was going back home to see what the news was there. If anyone could get information out of their father, or any siblings that might know something, it was her. Unlike Luc, she still had friends back home.

  "I have a few people I need to talk to and I think we need another mage to check the work this one has done around here," Az said. "If she's got her own agendas, or if she's secretly working with Michael, we need to know."

  Luc nodded and Az flashed out.

  "Is it just me that finds that creepy?" Harley got up and started cleaning up the mess the group had made before the lunch crowd started filing in for afternoon drinks.

  "What?"

  "When they just disappear like that in a flash of light. I mean, come on, use a damn door."

  "Angels aren't the only ones who do that." Luc raised his brow. He'd seen Harley use non-human modes of transportation on plenty of occasions. Demons didn't create the light spectacle that angels did, but they still accomplished the same thing.

  "Yeah, whatever." Harley turned around to face Luc with an armful of glasses and bottles. "Things with Talia going okay?"

  "Yeah, moving along."

  Luc didn't want to tell her that nothing was happening, that they were right on track to be friends. She would probably blame him. There was nothing wrong with being friends. It was what Talia needed and Luc was glad to be able to offer it. It might not be great timing for it, but it was what it was.

  Now, Luc had to switch gears from the mess that was happening around him, to watching a movie and having dinner with Talia. It was enough to make him want to show up at Ronnie's house out of the blue again. Not that it would be fair to Talia, or to Ronnie, and if Harley found out she would flip, but Luc needed some way to release some stress soon, or he was going to lose it.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  "I brought movies." Talia held up a bag and Luc ushered her inside the apartment. "I wasn't sure what your situation was over here, so I didn't want to assume you could stream something."

  "I'm not a savage, you know? I do have Netflix like the rest of the world." Luc took the bag and peered inside at several DVD's. He couldn't actually recall the last time he watched a movie himself, but Az was forever planted in front of his entertainment system taking advantage of his shit.

  "It smells amazing in here. Is that bacon?" Talia took a deep breath in and closed her eyes for a long moment.

  "It is. I wasn't sure what you liked on your burgers, so I have options." Luc led her through the kitchen, to the veranda, where his grill was set up. Next to that, he had a table with just about anything she might want to layer on her burger. Bacon, four kinds of cheese, fried onions, an assortment of vegetable toppings, pickles in various shapes and sizes, relish, condiments, whatever she might prefer, he had ready.

  "Um." She looked around at the elaborate set up, for burgers. "You could have just asked."

  "I figured you were busy with your brother. I didn't want to bother you." Luc wanted to ask her how it went, but held off. He wanted to have a nice time, forget the stress of reality, just for a little while.

  She snatched a pickle from the plate and popped it into her mouth. "So can I eat one of these things?" she pointed to the steaming burger patties Luc was pulling off the grill.

  "Help yourself." He sat the plate down and went to grab the homemade fries he had resting in the oven inside.

  "You seriously didn't have to go through so much trouble for me. I could have grabbed some take out on the way over." Talia piled a few items on her burger, squished it down, and shoved it into her mouth for a gigantic bite. "Mmm, that's good," she said between chews.

  "Glad you like it." Luc chuckled and made himself up a plate.

  They made smalltalk while eating. It was light, easy, and comfortable. Luc assumed things went well with her brother, or she wouldn't have been so relaxed. Hopefully, before the night was over, she would let him know how it went. Until then, he would follow her lead and enjoy her company.

  Once dinner was over and they'd cleaned up the mess, they settled on the couch to watch a movie. Luc stuck by his decision to let her pick, even though she chose some sugary sweet, chick flick, with angels of course. As soon as she snuggled against his side and laid her head on his chest, the movie no longer mattered.

  She felt good there, like she belonged in exactly that place. Besides Harley, Luc didn't have friends. He had people who did things for him out of respect, or fear. He had siblings that he cared for. But people to hang out and watch a movie with, wasn't something he'd ever really considered.

  With the other three sins, there had been sex. More with some than others, but each time, sex. With Talia, everything was different. With enough time, they might eventually get to that place, or they might not. Even though Luc missed that kind of contact, he didn't regret not having it with Talia.

  Not that he would ever admit that to Harley.

  As the credits started to roll, Luc had an urge to kiss the top of Talia's head, so he did just that. She looked up at him with a goofy smile, then tapped his nose with her finger.

  "Did you like it?"

  "The movie?"

  "Of course. What else would I mean?" She rolled her eyes. "You were watching it, weren't you?"

  "Of course I
was, and yeah it was okay. I think killing her off at the end was a bit much. He gave up everything to be with his soul mate and she just gets flattened by a truck?"

  "It was worth it though, because even one night with her was everything."

  Luc thought about his own situation and the promises he had to make his father to save Harley. He didn't think he would be so grateful to have found his soul mate, just to lose her so fast. And for Luc, that was a very real possibility.

  "I don't know." Luc shook his head. "You're telling me that if you waited all your life for true love, then found it, only to lose it right away, you'd think that was worth it? And that's without giving up being immortal."

  Talia squirmed around on the couch to face Luc. "Yes. You really don't think it would be?"

  He wanted to say yes, to think that it would be enough, but he couldn't. Knowing what he had to face made that too hard.

  "No, I guess I don't. I'd like to find my soul mate. It's something I've been thinking about for some time now. And if I found her, then she was taken from me so soon, I think it would be so painful that I'd wish I'd never found her to begin with."

  Luc let the words hang in the air, taunting him with their possibility.

  Talia looked at Luc for a long moment. It was the most tempted he'd been to look inside her head, but he fought the urge. Just when he was about to break the silence, she climbed into his lap and kissed him. It wasn't the quick brush of lips on lips that she'd initiated the first time. This was a full out, tongue on tongue, hotter than hell, kiss.

  When she pulled back, she stared at him, as if she expected something more from him. Even with all his experience with women, Luc wasn't sure what it was she wanted. So he stayed silent, with his hands resting on her hips, and his heartbeat jacked up a notch. His body responded in all the usual ways. He wanted more, no doubt about it, but he knew that wasn't what she needed.

  "I should go." She hopped off his lap and headed for the door.

  "Hold on." Luc chased her into the hallway and grabbed her arm. For a quick flash, he wondered if she would hit him, the way she had Cupid, but she only stared with wide, sad eyes. "Talk to me."

  "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

  "I think you should have."

  "Why is that?" She pulled her arm free, but made no move to leave.

  "Because you wanted to."

  "And you didn't, so I shouldn't have."

  "Are you kidding?" Luc laughed. "Why would you think I didn't want to kiss you?"

  She looked down at her feet and twirled her finger in the loop of her jeans. She wanted to open up. Luc could see it in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak and Luc led her back inside.

  "Before I left university, there was this guy I had a crush on. He hung out with people I knew, so we were always bumping into each other, but he never seemed interested." She took a deep breath and followed Luc to the couch, where they sat, facing each other.

  "One night, at this party, I got drunk. Not just regular drunk, but like bad decision, vomit on your shoes, drunk. I remember walking up to him and kissing him. I thought I was all badass, because he kissed me back. That was it though. I walked away and left it at that. I just wanted him to know I was interested, nothing more."

  She paused, lost in a memory. Luc waited it out, already knowing what was coming.

  "Later, I woke up and he was on top of me. I tried to push him off, told him to stop, and he ignored me. I could have fought harder, but I froze. I went to campus police and was told no one would believe me because I'd kissed him in front of twenty people hours before. So I dropped out and locked myself up where I was safe."

  Luc balled his fists at his sides. He wanted to tell her none of it was her fault, that he would personally make sure that asshole got what he deserved, but he stayed quiet. It was what she needed him to do.

  "Toby found me the next morning and stayed with me when I went to report it. We never really talked about what happened, but he knew. Sasha and I met in a survivors group I tried when it first happened, so she knows, but other than that, I've never talked about it." She swallowed hard, then continued.

  "The other day, Ethan overheard Sasha mention it, and that was how he found out. He was sort of blindsided by it." She shook her head. "You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all this."

  "Not at all, I'm just glad you're talking about it." Luc put his hand on top of hers and gave it a small squeeze. She smiled and met his eyes for a brief moment, then looked back down.

  "This is why we can only be friends." She looked back up. "I"m broken. I don't want to be, but I am."

  "You're not broken, Talia. You've been through something awful, but you survived. That makes you strong, even though you don't feel like you are."

  Luc had never been violated that way, so he could never fully understand, but he saw enough of those who had, to know that not all of them make it as far as Talia had.

  "That's why I shouldn't have kissed you. You don't need to be dragged up into my mess. I'm not in any place for anything more than friendship and I don't want to give you the wrong idea." She pulled her hand out from under his and folded them tightly in her lap.

  "I would never assume a kiss meant anything more than a kiss. You have nothing to worry about with me."

  "No, I know you wouldn't." She shook her head, but Luc didn't quite think she fully believed it. "But I still shouldn't have done it."

  It broke Luc's heart to see the pain she'd been put through. Even worse, was that she blamed herself, at least partly, for what happened.

  He wanted to pull her back into his lap, to kiss her with everything he had, to take away every negative thought she was having, but he was afraid he would scare her. There were no right answers, no easy fixes. This was something she had to find her own way through, in her own time.

  "I'm gonna go." She got up once again, but waited for him to stand, instead of running out this time.

  "You can stay."

  She shook her head and left, leaving him standing there alone.

  ***

  "Busy?" Az poked his head into Luc's office and looked around.

  "Just looking over paperwork. You need something?" Luc motioned for Az to come in and he took the seat across from the desk.

  "Nah, just wanted to check in. I found a mage to look over things. They want to meet with you. I think they want something in return for helping."

  "If they need something, then maybe we can trust them. Set it up."

  "You doing okay?"

  Luc looked up. "Of course. Why?"

  Az shrugged. "You seem different this month. You've barely mentioned the new girl. Things going well?"

  "No."

  Luc meant to say, sure, it was all fine.

  "No?" Az leaned forward and closed the folder Luc had open. "What's going on?"

  Luc let out a deep breath. He didn't want to talk about this with Az. He wasn't even sure how. He just wanted to go back to the first month, when they'd started the game, and everything was easy and fun.

  "Things are just—" He struggled to find the right words.

  "Complicated?"

  That was the one.

  "Yes, complicated."

  "All the good things are, brother."

  Talia wasn't his soul mate, or Luc was pretty sure she wasn't, but she was already someone he cared for. Their time was running short and he wanted to end it with them in a good place. If that happened to be as friends, Luc would be okay with that.

  "Are you still seeing the cop?"

  Az leaned back in the chair and sighed. "Sort of."

  "Define sort of." Now Luc was intrigued. At least he wasn't the only one struggling with his personal life.

  "At first, it was just sex. Lots of sex." Az smiled and let his mind drift to the memories for a moment. Luc cleared his throat to drag his brother back to the conversation. "But then, it wasn't."

  "It wasn't what?"

  "Just sex."

  "Oh." Luc reached
behind him for two glasses and the bottle of bourbon to pour them both a drink.

  "I don't know." Az scrubbed his hands over his face. "She wants to know what to call it and I don't know how to answer that."

  "How often do you see her?"

  "Like… five or six times a week?"

  "How many of those times result in sex?"

  Az stopped with his glass halfway to his mouth and his eyes widened. "A month ago, I would have said all of them, but now that I think about it, sometimes we don't have sex. Is that bad? What does that mean?"

  Luc laughed. He never thought he'd see Az in a relationship, but that's exactly what he was in.

  "It means you have a girlfriend."

  Az's nose scrunched up. "It doesn't."

  "Do you think about her when you're not with her?"

  "Sometimes."

  "Ever see something that you want to show her because you know she will like it, or think it's funny?"

  "Yes?" Az's eyes grew wider.

  "Have you slept with anyone else recently?"

  "No." Az slammed his hand down on the desk, spilling a few drops of Luc's drink. "You're supposed to be the one finding a relationship. Not me."

  "Sorry, brother. Looks like you found one first." Luc smiled, but it was bittersweet. Az never even wanted to settle down. Maybe the cop wasn't his soul mate, or maybe she was. Either way, Az had found someone, while Luc was making new friends.

  Life was definitely not fair.

  ***

  An entire week passed without Luc seeing Talia. They'd texted several times, so he knew she was okay. She said she'd been working and was too busy to stop by, but that she would hang out with him soon. He couldn't help but think he'd done something wrong the last time he'd seen her.

  Az set up the meeting with the mage so they could find out what was going on with Cupid and the little waif that was living in his basement. It had to be outside the club because he didn't trust them not to find a way to listen in. Until Luc had some confirmation, he wasn't going to put too much trust in anything to do with Cupid.

  Luc walked into the warehouse feeling like he was being watched. There were at least fifteen others in the place, which he could tell from thought chatter, but none that he could see. In the middle of the room were two chairs. Luc made his way over to one and took a seat.