Sofia stood outside of Kieran's room. She listened to the panicking chaos. The other sins were inside, waiting for the inevitable. The silver poisoning had destroyed most of Kieran's heart. It constantly stopped. He would've died days ago if it weren't for Charles resuscitating him over and over again.

There were no more blood types from any gender to give him. It had all failed.

She pulled out one of the blood-filled vials and felt the liquid's warmth in her hands. Technically, they didn't try all the genders; not one from a human omega, which hadn't been in stock in decades. Her grip tightened on the fragile glass. What if-?

No, her inner sin rumbled with hunger.

Gluttony needed this blood for her business. She'd lose many sponsors soon, thanks to her research and development department's lack of creativity to formulate a groundbreaking flavor. What would become of her then if her company failed? Abaddon's protection wouldn't last forever.

Sofia decided. The prophecy showed her Kieran's death. That was his true fate. Gluttony simmered in her belly. The stimulation that this extraordinary blood was hers to do what she wanted triggered it. She betrayed her brother by tiptoeing to the elevator-

Stop, someone whispered.

"Hello?" Her impeccable hearing didn't detect anyone else in the hallway with her.

Stop.

Gluttony barred her fangs, not liking this pleasant voice telling her what to do. She knew its identity. It was the reason she was born with her psychic gift. Boy, did she have a bone to pick with them!

"Oh? Are the heavens finally wanting to meddle in? After watching the world burn and suffer? Well, I won't-"

"Sofia?" Ashantee, the Greed sin, was beside her. "Who are you talking to this time, creepy girl? Ghosts? Why are you out here and not with...what are you holding?"

Crap. Crap. Crap. That damned voice distracted me!

"Nothing important," Gluttony growled and went to hide it, but Ashantee grabbed her wrist. Greed was showing itself, too, wanting to know why it was so special.

"Come on, sister," Greed hissed, "You know our sins make up two sides of the same coin. We're both greedy, though for different things. What's with the blood? Do you have extra? For you to lie means that it's worth something."

Both dominant females were on the verge of challenging. They wouldn't get the chance.

"I'll take that."

The tube disappeared from Gluttony's grasp. Charles, angry that his sister had blood the entire time, inspected it in the air. She heard him twist off the cap and inhale the scent. "This is from Te-? Do you have more?"

Okay, so she lost one vial. She still had three left. Sofia dashed away with her vampire speed, reaching the elevator. The doors pinged open. Almost there-!

"OOF!" she gasped loudly when the wind was knocked out of her. A sharp pain had kicked her in the back, sending her flying to the side. She landed on her stomach. The elevator closed. Her escape route was gone. Heels clicked towards her.

"Fucking. Blaise. You bitch!" Gluttony felt her face contort. Her sin was about to rip that blonde pervert to shreds!

A heeled shoe drilled into her back. "Sorry, love ya bestie, but this isn't the time to be a pig about blood. I'll make it up to you later." He stole her duffle bag and rummaged through it, finding the three vials.

"Those are mine! Mine!"

"Think of it this way. If this works, then you saved-"

"I don't care! Give it back!"

"Christ, you sound like Greed when she's in a mood." Blaise removed his digging heel and gave the vials to Wrath. "Ya'll need to chill your sins. It stinks with pheromones. Is this enough blood? Whose is it?"

Charles carefully handed them to a nurse.

"His mate's blood."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blaise snuck away until he rounded the corner, where his cute alpha waited for him. Such a good pup, listening so well!

Lucas sat on a cushioned chair, picking at the lock on his red collar. Blaise smiled at the sight. Despite all the bullshit this poor human went through with the Zhang's, his will to fight never broke.

Fuck, I want to tease him.

His blood slave saw him approach and let go of his collar quickly, pretending it never happened. "Did he finally die-?"

"Shhh," Blaise hushed, squishing his pointer finger on Lucas's lips. "It's time."

Lucas smacked at the manicured hand touching him, confused. Understanding flitted across his face, followed by worry. "Like, now? Right now?"

"Yes." Blaise glanced around them before taking out a yellow collar from his sparkly handbag. He removed the red collar and replaced it with a mustard-colored one. "Do you remember what to say if you're stopped? Someone might mistake you for an employee."

Lucas nodded eagerly, ready.

Blaise couldn't help it. Seeing his alpha excited was stimulating for his sin. He pressed his pink-tainted lips on Lucas's cheek, inhaling the perfect lavender scent. Blaise hated to feel Lucas bristle with uncertainty. His heart annoyingly hurt, almost like a mate had rejected him. They were still working on touching. Be patient.

But Lust hated being patient.

Fuck, this is difficult. I want him to strip me down and-no, no, no, stop daydreaming!

"Can I trust you?" he asked Lucas.

Lucas paused, feeling the spot where Blaise kissed him with his finger. "Yeah."

"Then, go get that feisty omega."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The siblings, including a sulking Sofia, watched Teru's blood travel through the clear tube from the hanging bag, draining into Kieran's arm. They tensed, anticipating him to throw up immediately like the other previous attempts.

Kieran didn't get sick.

There wasn't any violent vomiting or convulsing.

The rotten, black skin on his body gradually reformed, stitching together to create new layers. Nasty pus and seepage stopped leaking from the bullet holes. Miracle work occurred within his organs, too. Kieran looked a mess because blood soaked his clothes and hair, but at least his complexion was returning. A decaying scent no longer wafted from his dead body.

BEEP.

A heartbeat appeared on the screen. Everyone was silent.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Kieran's chest expanded, breathing. Charles sighed with relief. The journey getting to this point was long and tiring.

"Kieran? In case you can hear me, your wounds haven't fully healed yet because there isn't enough of Teru's blood, but...it's working! We'll continue to monitor your progress-"

Kieran lashed out. He twisted Charles's head completely around, breaking his neck.

CRACK.

His deadweight body fell into the congealed bloody pool on the floor, staining his lab coat and glasses. The sudden attack surprised the siblings. Nurses hurried to their physician's side to stabilize his vertebrae. Charles wasn't dead; a vampire couldn't be killed that easily. He'd be fine in minutes.

Tristan was the first to move into a defensive stance, hissing at the patient who was a corpse literally seconds before. The rest did the same except Wrath, twitching to get up, extremely furious with Kieran.

But their brother wasn't Kieran at that moment.

Pride growled at them with his green and red-mixed eyes. His features had become grotesque, showcasing the full throngs of his deadly sin consuming his sanity. The buckets of blood on him made his appearance more horrifying. They shifted into their inner monsters to match Pride's strength. Surely, they could defeat one sin who was fatally injured.

"He's having a PTSD attack because of Teru's blood," Lust murmured. "He thinks he's with the hunters. It's a defense mechanism to drink more before they torture him again-"

"You don't have to state the obvious," Greed snappishly whispered. Sloth nodded sleepily to agree with her twin. "I'm so ugly in this form. Let's get this over with."

"Sinners. Rotting flesh. I smell it. Outside," Pride's voice was demonic. His thick fangs extended, sharp tips sticking out of his mouth. The extra muscles in his forehead furrowed in agony.

Wrath forced his neck forward, cracking loudly. He hunched over like a hellish ghoul in the night. "Yield, Pride-"

Pride bolted out the door. Actually, attempted was more accurate since the other sins got in the way. The nurses cried, unable to avoid their punches and thrashing speeds of a vampire brawl in a tiny room. Thunderous growls and snarls petrified people everywhere. The combative fight crashed through the floors above and below, shaking the middle part of the skyscraper. Support beams broke. Walls crumbled. The building's stableness was at risk.

Pride ripped off his family's body parts while they could barely do the same to him. Despite five deadly sins teaming up, it wasn't enough. His terrible condition didn't matter. He was still the deadliest of them all.

Lust was catapulted through three floors, landing in the accounting department. He lay there on a crushed desk. As Lust realigned his dislocated shoulder, he yelled, "Envy! Why aren't you helping, you bastard?! Come on, dude!"

Envy did nothing. He merely stood with crossed arms in front of the emergency staircase. Pride saw the door leading to the first floor and rushed toward the lemon-scented alpha.

"Stop him!" Wrath roared with a fractured jaw.

But Envy stepped to the right, allowing Pride to break the door off its hinges and disappear down the abyss of stairs.

Greed stomped her feet on the floor like a spoiled, mad child. "What the-! Why did you let him go? What if he destroys my favorite stores?! He better not go uptown!"

"Payback for defeating me in my challenge," Envy shrugged. "New York will witness his true, greatest weakness. His disability made him weak and unstable. The scar on his nape proves it. The lion is no more. Kieran can't control Pride. When he sees the aftermath by his hand, I pray it shames his sin enough to spiral him into a permanent madness. Have you not been noticing? He's on the brink. I, Envy, deserve to be the deadliest sin."

Pride had reached the bottom. Screams from the city's citizens pierced the air. Cars crashed. Smoke wafted into the clouds. The sunset turned everything red. The full moon was blinding in the dark, purple sky.

Wrath stood and limped over the shattered mess to the stairway. With every step, his body healed. That was how a vampire should be, ready to fight in seconds like they were never injured. Yet, Kieran, severely blood-derived and hurt, had no difficulties facing them head-on.

"Where are you going?" Lust called out from another floor.

"The elevator isn't working. Since we clearly can't stop Pride, the only thing we can do is prevent as little damage to the city as possible. Let him do his job collecting the souls of his sin. Allow Pride to tire himself out."

"What, you mean like the old days? I thought we had a pact not to do that anymore."

The doctor found his glasses and put them on. "Well, Envy is doing a splendid job keeping his promises. Unless you know someone who can dominate Kieran, then we don't have a choice, do we?"