***
“No, there are no phones to Earth.” Greed laughed as she bit into some kind of Danish from the platter off of Dixie’s kitchen table. She was dressed to the nines in some kind of sexy power suit with thigh high stiletto boots. Thankfully I was able to hold my own in the fashion department due to the pile of rockin’ clothes Dixie had left in my bedroom. I was still wearing my black Converse, but they were paired with some insane Prada black pants and a Stella McCartney fitted t-shirt. “Silly girl. Even if there were, which there aren’t, do you really think Daddy would let you do that?”
“Am I a prisoner here? Or a guest?”
Greed exchanged a look with her sisters, Wrath and Envy, who’d shown up uninvited and unwanted to breakfast. All of the gals were dressed to kill . . . hopefully not literally. Dixie stood to the side completely ignored by her sisters.
“Would anyone like coffee?” she inquired, changing the subject.
“Yes, be a dear and fetch me some,” Wrath instructed her youngest sibling. “Don’t forget the sugar,” she called after her.
I liked them and I didn’t. I didn’t trust them a bit, but I was definitely going to find out what I could from them. “So you’re the Seven Deadly Sins, what does that make Dixie?”
“A spare heir,” Envy snorted and seated herself next to me.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning if one of us bites it, she becomes a Sin,” Envy explained and poked at the plate of pastries.
“Has that ever happened?” I asked, a little shocked at the implications. I had assumed each cousin embodied her Sin and was born that way.
“Nope,” Greed cut in. “Never and it would be a total ugly turd waffle if it did.”
“Facebook?” I asked.
“How’d you guess?” Greed grinned and took another Danish. “I understand that you met Grandpa last night.”
“How’d you hear that?” How did she hear that? I hadn’t even shared with Dixie yet.
“I feel his energy,” she said. “Don’t you?” she asked her sisters.
“Definitely,” Wrath said and Envy nodded.
“Yes, I met him and he was just as cute as Dixie said he would be.”
“Did you break anything?”
“Nope, I’m fine.”
“Not on you. On him.” Greed blew out an exasperated breath at my stupidity.
My stupidity was on purpose and that’s the way I wanted it. Everyone seemed to buy my flightiness except Wrath. She watched me closely with an odd expression on her lovely face.
“No, he left in one piece,” I told them and turned away to avoid Wrath’s intense scrutiny.
“What did you speak of?” Wrath asked.
“Not much. You know, ‘Welcome to Hell, learn your heritage, blahblahblah’.”
“Did he give you any gifts?” Envy asked in a tone I didn’t like.
“No books? No baubles?” Greed wanted to know.
What were they angling for? I had no intention of telling them I had a book. Unsure why, but trusting my instincts, I played dumb.
“Nope, nothing,” I said. “Why? Does he usually come bearing gifts?”
“No, but he always tries to pawn this stupid little book off on us,” Greed said and rolled her eyes.
“It’s written in some ancient script that none of us can read. I suppose it’s some kind of test,” Envy added.
“I can read a bit of it,” Wrath said, still watching me closely.
“Probably because you’re thousands of years older than the rest of us,” Greed snapped.
Swallowing back my surprise at Wrath’s age I wondered if I had been given the very same book . . . If I was, why in the hell was I able to read it? Bad feeling number one—and I was certain I’d have many more before the day was done.
“Coffee,” Dixie sang and passed cups to her sisters. “Would you like some, Astrid?”
“Nope. Vampyre.”
“Right.” She giggled and served her sisters dutifully.
“Do you need blood?” Wrath inquired as she put an alarming amount of sugar in her coffee.
“No, not at the moment. Are you offering?” Her head snapped up and there was serious interest in her eyes.
“I might be,” she answered silkily. “Let me know if I can be of service.”
“Will do.” Will not. There was no way Heaven or Hell I would drink the blood of a several thousand year old Demon . . . not to mention I was fairly sure she had some kind of icky girl cousin crush on me.
“What are your plans for the day, dear?” Envy asked.
“I’ll spend the day with Dixie and rest. This has been overwhelming so far.”
“Very well then,” Greed said and gave me a light squeeze. “We shall see you soon.”
With that, they stood and vanished in a blast of black glitter. I let out the breath I’d been holding and sagged in relief in my chair.
“Do they come to breakfast often?” I asked a similarly relieved Dixie.
“Never,” she admitted and scrunched her nose. “Sorry about that.”
“I can handle them.”
“Better you than me.” She giggled and picked at a Danish. “Did you enjoy your visit with Grandpa?”
“Actually I did and I didn’t break one single bone in his body.” I grinned and sniffed the coffee. “God, I miss caffeine.”