“Yes.” He gritted his teeth and locked his jaw.
“What does that mean for me then?” I tried to think of what sins were left that I hadn’t met. Sloth, Wrath, and Lust. If Corrine was another one, that meant she had to be Greed, Pride, Envy, or Gluttony. I tried to think about what she had done here. She had destroyed my apartment and taken all my blood. I blinked and looked up at Desi excitedly. “She’s Gluttony, isn’t she?”
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I really don’t understand what goes through your brain. Corrine is not Gluttony.” He paused and appeared to be deciding whether or not to tell me, but then he did. “She’s Pride.”
My mouth fell open.
Pride.
“I don’t understand. What would she have to do with this? Why would she want me?”
Desi flipped the card around in his fingers and then slipped it into the back pocket of his jeans. He then resumed rummaging through the mess. “She doesn’t care about you particularly. It’s more because the Seven Sins aren’t supposed to have serious partners. One of the biggest rules we have is to kill anyone who finds out about us.”
“That’s why you and Arsenio never wanted to tell me things.”
He looked back at me and pointed his forefinger at me. “Bingo. Although I don’t think it really matters at this point. Ludovica called Corrine. She’s on the hunt now.”
“But why? Why is it such a big deal? For people to know your identities.”
He stood up and turned fully. “Seriously? We’re criminals. We regularly murder on top of all of our personal interests. Arsenio, Ludovica, we’ve all got our vices. Both the blood and human community would have us killed.” He tossed a pillow at me. Fluff flew through the air as I caught it. “I’m not saying I like not being allowed to have ties to people, but I understand it. If one of us breaks, it puts all of us at risk.”
“So she did this to send me a message? Or was she going to kill me and got upset when I wasn’t here?” I asked as together, we began to pick up my place.
“I doubt it was even her, if I’m honest. Most of the Sins prefer to hire out for dirty jobs. The guy probably came to kill you, then was pissed, and did this. Are your bags still packed?”
“In my car? Yeah.”
“Good. Grab the blood and anything else you don’t want to leave behind. Small stuff. We’re leaving.”
“Seriously? Now?”
He sighed, and his eyes went wide with frustration. “Yes, Scout. The longer we stay here, the easier it will be for whoever came for you last night to find you. Come on, you’ve got fifteen minutes.” He went to the door and leaned against it with his arms crossed.
I sighed and went to do as told. Most of my things had been removed from my place just the day before, but I had some clothes and random trinkets, none of which I chose to take with me. I had bags in my car that would do just fine.
I grabbed the blood and shut all the lights off. “Ready,” I told him. He nodded and reached for my hand before exiting the apartment.
“They probably already know both of our cars, so we’ll get to the nearest dealer and see about trading one in.”
“You’d get more for yours,” I smirked. My car was a major shitbox.
He laughed. “I’m not selling my car. I’ll get you something worth a damn. Come on, let’s grab your bags and put them in my trunk.”
I had just enough time to grab my backpack when we heard a tiny beep. I jumped back quickly and locked eyes with Desi.
“Get away from the car!” He shouted and reached for me. I moved quickly, and a moment later, there was a boom, and my car exploded. I looked on in horror as all of my other belongings went up in flames. “Are you alright?” Desi asked after a moment.
I slung the bag over my shoulders and frowned. “Physically, yes. Mentally, not great.”
He glanced at the bag on my back. “What’s in there?”
“Clothes, some bathroom stuff. Oh, and my wallet.” I said as I turned it around and started to dig through it. “Cool.” He reached for my hand again and drug it toward his car. He unlocked it with the buttons on his key ring and then froze.
“I don’t trust my car. If they did yours, they’d do mine too. We’re walking.” He lifted the bag with the glass bottles of blood in it. “Can you fit this in your backpack?”
I scrunched up my nose. It’d be heavy, but I supposed we didn’t exactly have a choice. We needed to drink. I let him stuff them in my bag, and I shifted to adjust to the new weight.
“Where are we going exactly?” I asked as we started down the sidewalk in the dead of night.
