Arek scoffed.Just then, their next set of drinks arrived, and the twin distributed them amongst the three.Lifting one clay mug, he raised a toast.“To remembering.To Neyu.”
The other two brothers lifted their own drinks.Even Alus, who almost never used anyone’s proper name, repeated the phrase with reverence, “To Neyu.”
The familiar squeeze in Saer’s throat and chest became somehow easier to bear with the drink riding him.He growled only loud enough to be heard over the crowd, “To Neyu.”
As one, they drank.
Two and a half full tankards later, the Twins convinced Saer to step onto the middle of a crowded, makeshift dance floor.He wouldn’t have gone if it weren’t for a human female with bronzed skin, jutting cheekbones, and shining raven locks pulling his stumbling form forward by the wrist.In his right mind, Pride would have growled and refused—but in a state of drunken delirium, he laughed.The sound came full-throated, rich, and freeing, enough to make Alus take notice with appreciation glinting in his eyes.
Saer’s skin slicked with sweat in the absence of his Hellsfire burning inside.The dust he and his companions kicked up mid-dance stuck to his flesh.He tasted salt at the corner of his mouth and washed it down with more spirits.
Alus seemed created for the dance floor, moving with the persistent beating of the drums, utilizing improvisation as his weapon of choice.The opposite twin swayed with no less grace, boasting more control and precision.They worked through partner after partner, and Saer caught small snippets of their conversations here and there.
“…dedicate yourself to us…”
“…ours, and this party doesn’t have to end…”
This was how they harvested, by preying upon and encouraging the overindulgent.They certainly pushed and pulled on gluttony and greed, though Saer couldn’t feel it.
The two were a sight to behold.
Saer had no inclination as to how he moved, but found himself spurred on by the surrounding humans, picking up—albeit slowly—guidance from the young woman who dragged him to the gyrating crowd.
At one point, she fell against him, and Saer wrapped his arms around her, head swimming.She smelled like lilacs and alcohol and sweat.
Soft lips kissed his perspiration-slicked neck, whispering things against Saer’s flesh he didn’t understand but held unmistakable meaning.Her lust pulsed against his dulled senses, splashed on the back of his tongue, and Saer indulged the curiosity at the forefront of his consciousness, rather than instinctual repulsion.
Saer’s nose grazed the nameless beauty’s cheek.A smile painted her lips, her deep brown eyes half-lidded.The bass of the drums resonated in his chest and abdomen as Pride tilted his head.
I miss you, Dearest.
He met the female’s eager mouth with his own.Parting his lips, he touched the tip of his tongue to hers at the same time he tugged on her innate lust, bringing it to the surface.
The flavor washed over the back of his throat, choking and euphoric.
The woman gasped, then moaned as her spine bowed, clinging with carnal urgency.She whispered something against Saer’s mouth.
“Eldest.”
A distant echo.Someone calling him.
Saer slid his hand up along the woman’s slender back, curling it at the nape of her neck and deepened the kiss.He pulled at her lust again, reckless.The female whimpered and ground her hips into his.
Neyu…
“Saer.”A hand tapped his numbed shoulder with enough force that Saer reared back from the female’s lips and snarled in response.Even so, a growing sense of apathy settled in his body, overpowering him as Arek assisted in unfurling his arms from the woman.Alus appeared and took her hand, twirling her with a gentle smile.She collapsed in Gluttony’s arms with a groan, and the twin danced away with her.
Saer watched the two, still trying to decide if he cared or not.It seemed he should mind, but the notion also sounded exhausting.
“Tonight is for remembering.Not forgetting,” Arek’s reasonable voice murmured in his ear.
“I thought I was,” Saer whispered.
Alus danced with the woman, her slick black hair swaying to the play of the music.Saer named what he wished for at that moment, heedless of Arek being able to hear him—something he’d said earlier that same day.“I want her back.”
“Neyu would feel the same, were your positions reversed,” Arek answered.
Grief crashed against Saer’s meticulously crafted emotional walls, threatening to decimate them.Again, the wild notion to go to Lucifer and plead for It to pull her essence from his flesh and bones, to recreate her, rose to the surface.“If I had another chance to keep her safe...”
