“Nope, it's Fame's turn.” I walked away from him into our open concept kitchen, grabbed two beers from the fridge, and settled into a chair.
“Aww, man!” He walked up and snatched the beer I held out to him, popping the top and guzzling half the beer in one gulp. “He always wants to eat ‘healthy,’ and the food always sucks,” he complained and slumped into the chair next to me.
“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad.” I laughed as I took a swig and thought about the last dinner he brought home. “That cauliflower crust pizza wasn’t that bad.” I tried to smooth things over, because if War was not compliant, he was downright destructive, and I was starving. I didn’t want him to ruin the meal, and Fame would refuse to order anything else until he ate what he ruined.
“Cauliflower is a fucking liar! It keeps trying to copy other foods that it's not! Stay in your lane, cauliflower!”
I took another swig, waiting for his rant to cool down before I tried again.
We both heard the door open, and I called out, “Fame, if you have dinner, I recommend that it doesnothave cauliflower in it.”
War lifted his head, pointed at me and nodded furiously in agreement. I winked at him.Got your back bro.
“Aww, fuck, I should've just eaten while I was in the casino. Fame's going to have some vegan or veggie shit, and I'm starving something fierce.” Our other brother, D, said as he walked in, looked at the two of us with beers in hand and went to the fridge to snag one before joining us.
“How were the tables?” I asked, hoping to get War's attention away from the healthy food Fame was most definitely bringing home tonight.
“Oh, you know me.” He pulled out the chair at the head of the table and sat down, “No one can beat Death, not even the house.” He winked at me before taking a swig.
“They only know you as D. They all think it stands for dick or something.” War chuckled as D glared at him like he could eviscerate him with just his eyes.
D taunted out, “It's better than everyone thinking I had hypocritical hippies for parents who called me War, hoping by naming their child that it would put a stop to all wars.”
I snickered at the backstory War came up with when he told people why his name was War. It was so ridiculous, but none of us could convince him out of it.
He was the only one out of all of us who chose to use his full name in the outside world. The rest of us shortened our names. I was Con, for Conquest, Fame for Famine, and D for Death.
When we came to the human plane all those years ago, we all decided to keep our names instead of making new ones. There was power in a name, and it was the only one the angels ever called us in that golden cage we were born in—the only thing that reminded us of where we came from.
War grumbled around his beer at D’s smirk, mumbling about how he was a dirty cheat and partially, he was right. For some reason, and we had all tried, nobody could beat D at anything. Never. Well, except forhim, the one who broke us out of that cage all those years ago.
I saw War’s eyes light up like a lightbulb went off in his head and he opened his mouth to argue whatever new insult he thought of, like always, when we all heard the door open. We swiveled in our chairs, holding our breath, all wanting to catch a glimpse of the logo on the bag Fame had brought home for dinner.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, there was a loud pop and the last person I expected was suddenly standing in front of Fame with a large grin on his face.
“Hello, boys. I'm ready to cash in that favor you owe me.”
D, War and I shot out of our chairs because before us stood the king of Hell himself, Lucifer.
Allofuswerestunned stiff. None of us had expected this strange turn of events, but we had dreaded the day it would come. No one said anything as he stood tall, his dark hair slicked back with his black eyes ringed in red, looking at us. He was wearing jeans with holes in them and a black T-shirt that gave the illusion that he was just a regular guy, but we knew different. He chuckled as he scooped up the bags in Fame’s hands and lit them on fire with glee.
Fame's eyes got wide, then he let out a growl as his whole plan for dinner went up in flames, literally. War and D grinned, at least until they looked at the floor. Their faces fell real quick when they realized that our dinner for tonight was laying in ashes, not in the least bit appetizing.
“None of this. Tonight, we celebrate!” Lucifer clapped his hands, and the table suddenly had a full spread of meat, veggies, starches, and desserts of all kinds stacked in the middle with plates set for five.
“Tonight, I cash in the huge favor you all owe me from when I freed you from that cage. Remember? Of course you remember! This must feel liberating, right?!”
His joyous exuberance twisted my shock into fear, making me sick to my stomach.What the fuck was he going to have us do?
“Oh, boys, sit, sit.” He waved his hands over our table. “Eat. We have a lot to talk about.”
He made his way to the other head of the table, across from D as he scooped up a plate and piled on sweet potatoes and decadent desserts like they were going out of style.
“All carbs and sweets make a healthy Devil.” He smiled as he sat down, then plucked out one of the chocolate truffles and popped it in his mouth.
“Oh, this is fucking delicious!” Lucifer cried as he licked his fingers clean.
War didn't wait another second and went right in, grabbing a plate and piling as much food as he possibly could onto it. Fame, D, and I still stood around, skeptical about this surprise pop in. Knowing Lucifer, it was never just an easy job. It most likely had tricks and issues littered all around it that he wasn't going to tell us about.
