Nicole dragged herself out of the freezing water, her temper teetering wildly on the edge of murderous. Those were designer shoes! This dress cost more than minimum wage workers in America made in an entire year... before taxes! Oh, she was going to kill Gluttony for that! Rip him limb from limb until he coughs up double the money to replace them!

"Hello, sister,"

Looking up, she saw the smuggest, most punchable grin stretched across the face of Envy's vessel. Yep. That was Ashton Price, alright. She recognized him from the smaller, lesser-read articles about the dragons and those before that outlining the trial that ultimately took away his medical license.

Balancing on one foot, she pulled off a ruined heel and threw it at him. "Asshole," she spat, and he laughed and ducked before the shoe could hit him. "I'd ask where the hell you've been for the last ten thousand years, but that would give you the idea that I actually gave a fuck!"

"We both know you wouldn't be this upset if you didn't care," he teased back.

She scowled, dropped down on the log next to him, and started pulling bobby pins out of her once immaculate hair. Another loud bang echoed in the trees beyond where Gluttony tackled Cyrille. "So, what's the story this time?" she asked. "I didn't get to hear the whole thing, and something has to be going on if Cyrille's trying to open the door."

"Greed has something of mine, and I'm trying to get it back," Ashton shrugged. "It's not my fault he's throwing a tantrum."

"Uh-huh," she raised her eyebrow and nodded towards the tight circle of archangels on the other side of the pool. "And what about that? I've never seen Wrath porcupine herself like that."

"Wrath locked me in a cage and dropped me in a glacier," he hissed, the bitter green flaring in his eyes. "I merely returned the favor. But, just like me, it seems she escaped much sooner than expected."

"To be fair, we all participated in that. How did you escape, by the way?"

"I'll tell you. But you have to promise to hear me out. I don't want any of this fighting between us anymore. I just want what is best for us."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The same talk as last time, I'm sure. Taking over the world and all that. You know, you could have done damn well for yourself in this era. Ashton Price could have been huge."

Ashton blinked in surprise, staring at Nicole as she uncurled her long, wet hair from the bun. "You know of my work?"

"Know of it?" she barked out a laugh. "Ashton, I'm the person pharmaceutical companies call when they need a marketing expert. I've had my fingers in every corporate medical advancement in the last two hundred years. So I knew about you from the beginning. Had I known it was Envy wearing that meat suit, I would have helped you!"

"Really?"

"Hell yes! The Heritage Tests were brilliant in concept! The two of us could have taken that and made billions. Do you have any idea how obsessed humans are about who they are and where they came from? It's a staple in American culture to know exactly what percentage of them came from which country. Tell a white man that he's one-sixteenth Native American, and suddenly he thinks his conservative views hold more weight than the people who have lived, breathed, and suffered to keep their culture. It's absolute chaos, and I live for that kind of chaos.

"Just imagine the possibilities! Adoption is more popular among humans these days than ever before, especially among the rich, who think it will give them some kind of moral high ground over their peers. So this is the best target market for any kind of genetic testing." She lowered her voice to a tone she used in many of her pitches to the layman. "With a simple cheek swab or a tiny pinprick of blood, watch your genetic mysteries unravel before your eyes! You, yes you, could be related to the High Queen of the Celestial elves when her grandfather's brother had a secret affair with a human during the time when Ancients were naught but myth and legend!

"Humans eat that shit up. For fucks' sake, with a good enough marketing campaign, you don't even need to make it work as advertised. The FDA can be easily sidestepped if you have enough strings to pull or enough money for a good lobbyist. I could have kept lawyers chasing their tails, trying to shut us down. The potential was right there."

"But?" there was a snarl to Ashton's voice now.

"But," Nicole curled her own lip in return. "As always, you were too hasty. You pushed it too fast without considering the backlash. You had approval to see if the tests could be done, regardless of how questionable your methods were. You got away with legal torture, and it worked! You got the results you wanted. Doctor Ashton Price could prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the Heritage Tests worked. But, instead of stepping back and considering how you could improve the tests, you pushed ahead. You started offering them to adoption centers so they could tell prospective parents if their new child had Ancient blood in their veins."

"They jumped on the opportunity!" Ashton hissed.

"Yes, of course, they did. But twenty percent of them died, and the rest came back scarred both physically and mentally. You tortured children. Hopeless, abandoned, usually parentless children, but children, nonetheless. Your nature is jealousy and resentment, not impatience. What happened?"

He looked away, chewing the inside of his cheek in barely controlled resentment. "The Organization wanted to keep my work for themselves. Keep it quiet. Use it for their experiments. They don't realize that it's my work that gives them the ability to do what they want. I made the magic of the tenth dragon go dormant. I made sure she could pass off as human, even around the kin. I showed them how to impregnate a demon! Everything they have accomplished is because of me! And they wanted to sweep me under the rug like I'm one of the fucking grunts." He spat into the mud, hissing again. "They lied to me. They denied me what was rightfully mine. And they act surprised when I refuse their so-called orders and try to take it back. Well... not all of them. Kincaid had the decency not to pretend he doesn't know I am more than I appear."

"They don't all know you're a Sin?" Nicole stopped trying to untangle her hair and frowned. "Then... they didn't help you keep this body intact?"

Ashton's wicked, arrogant smile returned. "No. Those idiots are too blind to take advantage of the magic that was needed for this. Not until recently, and even now, they are too afraid. I didn't consider either for the longest time. It was so simple. So obvious."

From his pocket, he drew out a small vial filled with blood so red it was actually glowing in the dark forest. Nicole immediately felt the uncomfortable heat coming off the glass tube and fought against the urge to back away. Ashton stared into it with a manic gleam to his own glowing green eyes. "What is that?" The question came out in barely a whisper. It had been a long time since she had been truly afraid of something. The contents of that vial terrified her.

"Dragon blood," he hissed. "Have you ever wondered what happens when you mix the primordial magic of this world and the strongest magic from the veil together? I need to take several per year to maintain this body, but you, sister. You would only need one."

There was a sudden shriek that could only come from Gluttony and another explosion further into the trees. A wave of magic pulsed through the forest. More screams, and the unforgettable sounds of scuttling, snarling, and snapping changelings. Gluttony must have gotten himself into trouble if he opened himself like a demonic nesting doll and released his horde of creations.

"Look how powerful Gluttony has gotten," Ashton insisted. "His control over the changelings and other creations is unquestionable. Even the dark elves cannot override his commands, and they rely on him to give them power."

"I don't suppose you got that when the Organization caught those dragons, did you?"

"Oh, no, dearest Pride. It was the very bitch that burned my army all those years ago. She set me free. She has been giving me her blood long before the Organization became a reality. Phoenix has given me everything I have ever desired, and in return she asks for nothing." Their eyes met, and he held out the vial. "You can have this power too. Have you ever wondered what the sun feels like? Do you ever wonder what it's like to walk in the crowds and for no one to know what you are? Your arachne could be as strong as the archangels."

Nicole took the blood and nearly dropped it. It was hot. Hot as hellfire. The hellfire that Phoenix used to kill demons like they were nothing.

"Join me, sister. Let us stand together as the gods we were in the veil. The gods we still are!"

"What would you have me do?"

"The archangels will not let us leave Dún na Rí because the one commanding them wants the door open more than anything else in the world. So, we will open the door and keep Lust from returning. They are not ready to do what is necessary."

Slowly, Nicole got to her feet and stepped toward the pool. The door was glowing now. Cyrille had put in more than enough power to open it. When it was, any number of banished demons would come flooding out, Lust included. "The one who commands the archangels?" she mused. "Meaning... not Chandra?"

"Do not worry about Wrath. I will take care of our little escape artist and put her back in her cage."

"And after? What is this thing that Cyrille took from you?"

"The future of our kind. The new commander of the archangels. The greatest entity the Organization has to offer."

"According to the Counsel, the tenth dragon is the Organization's entity."

Ashton snorted with disgust. "As if there was ever just one. Nothing can compare to Kilo, even that dragon. My Kilo, my Katalin, is everything. From her, a new generation of demon and Sin will be born. And we will guide them into a world where we do not hide, but hold our heads high. We will no longer hunt from the shadows, and members of all breeds will throw themselves at our feet to rip their souls from their bodies to feed from them as we please."

Nicole was quiet for a moment. Then, slowly, her skin started to shimmer. Her hair retreated back into her skull, which was widening into a shape resembling a hammerhead shark. "You almost had me," she rattled in a dark tone that started to split. Her body grew rapidly, legs splitting in half into four, then eight separate limbs like a grotesque, fleshy spider. "I was almost convinced."

"What?!"

She rounded on Ashton, now much taller and baring her fangs, and threw the vial of deadly dragon blood into the trees. "Did you forget who you are speaking to, brother?" she spat. "I am Pride! I do hunt when I please. I do not bow, I do not cower, I do not ask for permission. I do not need you to tell me what I am capable of when all you have ever done is fail!"

She leaped at him, and he dove out the way, snarling. "You will regret this!" he roared. "I gave you a fair shot! Remember that when I'm ripping you apart like I did to Wrath!"

Nicole ignored him and attacked again. He dodged again, this time sticking his fingers in his mouth and whistling high and clear. A second later, a hundred demons with eerie glowing blue eyes and tattoos came rushing out of the trees. Djinn. Well aware of their potent dream magic, she launched herself up and back, avoiding their touch so as not to get caught in their trap. If it were one or two or even ten, she would have easily fought and killed them before passing out. Not this many.

For once, Envy was prepared, and the djinn were coordinating. They herded her away from the pool and the door, back towards where Gluttony and Cyrille were fighting. Power in numbers, and no one had the ability to summon blind fighters like Gluttony.

Damnit, she had to get to the door. Even if it would release the rest of Envy's creations, they needed Lust. She couldn't let Ashton be the one to open that door. He would just...

A ripple of subtle but powerful veil magic pulsed through the forest. Nicole skidded to a halt, as did the pursuing djinn, and they all looked back towards the river. The temperature of the forest dropped so rapidly that the trees turned white from frost, and the ground froze instantly. The light of the moon and stars above them went out, casting Dún na Rí into complete blackness.

And then, all at once, chaos erupted. The earth suddenly heaved and shuddered. The screams of a thousand bodiless demons broke the heavy silence. The cries of the archangel added to the chorus, and finally, the warriors joined the fight, aiming their spears at the hunter-killers and stopping them from escaping the veil. Then, taking advantage of what might be her only chance, Nicole shot forward, determined to grab Lust and drag him out.

Gluttony appeared out of nowhere, his stomach opening wide and slamming down on her legs. She shrieked in the sudden pain of three of her legs being suddenly cut clean off. He caught her around the throat with a set of blood-covered pincers and slammed her into the ground so hard it cracked, and ice sprayed everywhere.

Ashton rounded on Chandra, now suddenly in the open, as the archangels fought to control the stream of demons pouring out of the veil. Her eyes widened in terror, and she started scrambling back, shaking too much to get back to her feet.

"YOU!" he roared, throwing out a hand. Chandra jerked back towards him, screaming and begging, clawing at the ground. "All of this is your fault! I am your brother!! How could you do this to me?!" Wrapping his hands around her throat, he squeezed as hard as he could, forcing her to look into the sickly green of his eyes. "Don't worry, Wrath," he almost cooed. "I'm not going to kill you. You're too good for death. No, no, no! I'm going to put you right back in that glass box, and I am going to make you watch as I break little Katalin like I broke you. Then I'm going to take the baby she shits out, and I am going to turn it into the weapon she was always supposed to be! And, who knows, maybe if she behaves herself, I'll use her as my personal toy for pleasure!"

Another figure appeared from the trees. One wing missing, blood spraying from countless wounds, Cyrille shot forward. He ignored Gluttony, ignored Nicole, and aimed straight for Ashton Price, an archangel with black eyes on his heels. Envy barely stumbled away in time to avoid getting his arms cut off. The archangel caught Chandra before she hit the ground and pulled her into the safety of the shadows.

Ashton turned to get back to his horde of djinn, where he was safer in numbers. As he did, a massive figure loomed above him. Bright yellow eyes. Deer skull for a head, antlers included, and bony spikes protruding from their muscular back. Lust thrust both sets of talons into Ashton's chest between his ribs. Cyrille came from behind, plunged his claws through his back, and crushed his heart.

For a moment, they stood still, Lust's burning yellow eyes staring into Ashton's green ones. The sickly, swampy green of Envy never faded. Then a smile stretched across his face, and Ashton started to laugh through the blood pouring from his mouth. "You can't kill me," he cackled. "I have the power of dragons in my veins! I am-"

"I don't need to kill you," Lust rattled. "Just hold you still."

Ashton's eyes narrowed then widened in horror as no fewer than six archangels came out of the water, dragging a ball made from what looked like pieces of archangel armor. "NO!" he shrieked, thrashing against the other Sins. "Don't you dare! Don't you put me back in that thing! I'll kill you all! I'll-"

The archangels did not hear the threats. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. As soon as it was close enough, the sphere opened and flew on its own towards Envy. The cage closed around Ashton's head and torso, slamming shut and cutting off his legs at the knees and nearly taking Cyrille and Lust's arms with it. It landed five feet away, cratering into the frozen ground, and lay completely still.

While the archangels turned back to finish off the remaining changelings and hunter-killers, and then Gluttony himself, Cyrille collapsed on the bank of the pool. He was suddenly completely drained. He didn't even have enough energy to put a human face back on, so he didn't bother. Unfortunately, the pain he'd been blocking out was also starting to creep in.

Lust collapsed next to him, their chest heaving. Coming out of the veil was no simple task, and it must have taken every ounce of their remaining energy just to hold themselves upright and keep Ashton from escaping. "Thank you, Greed," they panted.

"Cyrille," he corrected, panting as well. "And that feeling of, you know, gratitude. Hold onto it. Savor it. Remember that I saved your ass."

"Actually, I think it was Sloth that opened the door,"

Lust nodded towards the pool, and Cyrille looked over at none other than greasy Sloth, floating on his back directly above where the door had been. "Are you kidding me?!" Nicole shrieked from the other side, clutching to a tree to keep her balance. "You don't lift a fucking finger to help us in a fight, but you'll open the door to the fucking veil?!"

"Greed did the hard part," Sloth said with his usual verbal shrug. "It wasn't too much effort."

Cyrille and Lust started laughing, unable to stop themselves, between Sloth's nonchalant attitude and Nicole's screeching. The black-eyed archangel ventured slowly out of the shadows, carrying Chandra in its arms, and lowered her to sit between them. Lust looked down at her, and the sharp glow of their eyes softened. "You look like hell, Chandra," they said with surprising tenderness.

She let out a strangled, half-laugh, half-sob. "You always know how to make a girl feel special, Lust," she said through her tears and leaned against their arm.

"How long has it been? What happened to Katalin? The last thing I remember is-"

"She's fine," Cyrille cut in. "She's with my legion back in Paris. She's safe. Once you've had a chance to recover, I'll take you to her."

"You didn't even bring the girl?" Oberon's accent sounded thick against the cold silence following the battle. The fae king stood next to Gluttony's fading remains, covered in a mix of fae and demon blood, and looking around at the destruction. "So all this was for nothing?"

"Did you use our asylum agreement with the fae just to get me out?" Lust asked softly, slowly shrinking into the same form he'd been in Kate's memories.

"No, of course not. I'm not that stupid. I did it for Katalin."

At Morgan's look of confusion, Chandra explained with a scowl. "Our daughter inherited your taste in men."

"Wait, what?!" Nicole looked between the other Sins. "I have missed out on some key information here, and I need all the details on what the hell happened!"

"Lust and Wrath boned and had a daughter," Sloth said bluntly. "Greed boned her, and now they're having a kid too."

His eyebrows flew upwards. "Of all the demons in the world, she chose Greed? Really?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Cyrille forced himself to his feet and shuffled stiffly to his bag. In the commotion, it had ended at the base of a tree several meters away from the destroyed bridge. "Keep it up, Lust. Go ahead. Mention to Katalin that you disapprove. See what she does."

"Oh, I don't disapprove," he smirked. "I just wasn't expecting the Organization to be so thorough in turning her into a masochist."

Even Chandra laughed at the morbid humor. Cyrille leaned heavily against the tree trunk and watched his phone slowly turn on, and waited for it to find a network. "I should be more upset that our agreement was abused so blatantly," Oberon threw up his hands in defeat and sank down to sit on a root. "But I would have done the same, I think."

"You have done the same," Cyrille corrected, dialing Kate's number and raising the phone to his ear. "Don't forget who answers your request every time."

After several rings, the call finally connected. He'd been dying to hear her sweet voice again, but all he got was an automated message. "The number you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please leave a message at the tone, and try again later."

That wasn't right. He told her to text him before going down to the Catacombs. He started scrolling through all the old texts and calling his voicemail to be sure, growing more and more worried with every dead end. "So, our baby girl is all grown up and having a baby of her own?" Morgan asked Chandra in awe.

"I guess so," she smiled back at him. "I can't decide if I want to snap his neck or hear how all that happened."

"You've reached Celeste. I'm not here right-"

He ended the call and punched in Raphaël's number in a new wave of pure desperation and only got "Not here. Call back later."

He stared at the screen, concern and fear twisting in his gut. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

~