Sloth, page 1





Contents
Sloth
Copyright
Series
Content Warning
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Epilogue
Thank You!
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also By the Author
Sloth
The Seven Sins Series
Book Six
By: Talli Wyndham
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by electronic means, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or by any information retrieval and storage system without express written consent of the author or publisher.
The names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are fictional and products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, persons, or organizations is coincidental.
Sloth: The Seven Sins Series, Book Six
Formatting by: Just Ask Her Productions
Book Cover design by Merel Pierce
Printed in the United States of America
Prelude Poem: T. L. Hodel, used with permission
First printing April 16, 2022
Published by Talli Wyndham
Copyright © 2022 Talli Wyndham
All rights reserved.
Books in The Seven Sins Series
(Listed in Release Order)
Greed by Brooklyn Cross
Lust by Drethi Anis
Envy by Dylan Page
Gluttony by Marissa Honeycutt
Wrath by Billie Blue
Sloth by Talli Wyndham
Pride by T.L. Hodel
Dedicated to my fellow authors on this series, who made this entire process far more fun than it should have been. Thank you, Billie, Tara, Marissa, Drethi, Dylan, and Brooklyn. Thanks also to Julia for all of your help, support and patience. This book wouldn’t exist without all of you. And there’s a pretty good chance that anything else I write in the future is your fault too.
Also dedicated to every spooky thing that drew me in when I was younger, and kept me spooky as an adult.
Content Warning
This book is not about a nice individual who does good and wholesome things. Be aware that there is (extremely) dubious consent, high death tolls, a pandemic, deep ambivalence towards human life both broadly and specifically, and a Very Long Fall. There are also a lot of adult scenes best enjoyed in a comfortable bath. If any of these things, or just general asshole behavior might upset you, you should probably be reading a different book. At least no puppies get harmed.
If you’re just here for the promised “adult situations” – read on!
The final sin was born with the crowds that watched the crucifixion.
As the son of God released his last breath
he gave life to Sloth,
for the greatest sin is that of the one who sits idly by.
I’m an often forgotten sin. Less flashy than Pride and Wrath. Less fun than Gluttony and Lust. Too passive for Envy or Greed. I’m not active in the ways that they are, but I’m present. I’m here.
Oh, I’m so so here in this modern world of compromise for convenience.
Every time you compromise your morals to use the plastic water bottle instead of filling a glass, or you throw the recycling out with the trash, I’m here. When you drive to save yourself walking two blocks, that’s the weight of me telling you, ‘It’s okay this time, you had a hard day,’ or ‘what does one more matter?’ or ‘it’s not like your actions have any global impact.’
You’re right. Your actions don’t have a global impact, but every single little one has an impact on your soul and you don’t even notice.
But I do.
The road to Hell isn’t paved with good intentions, it’s gently sloped with, “I’ll let someone else deal with it; it’s okay this one time.”
“Belphegor, where is your armor?”
I glanced up from my workbench where I’d been tinkering around with a device that would tune harps without effort on the part of the musician. I didn’t play much, but I liked listening sometimes, and waiting for the angels to tune them note by note was… boring. It took too much time and by the time they were finally ready to play, I was ready to go take a nap. And some of them, well, didn’t have the necessary ability to recognize notes by ear and the rest of us suffered for it.
“I would assume I have some around here somewhere,” I muttered, barely sparing a glance at Uriel. He was standing in the archway door, glaring at me, the light of the Most High gleaming off of his breastplate and making him radiant. It was all a bit much, really.
“You are aware there is a war going on for Heaven?” Ah, that tone. I was familiar with that tone. That was the tone of yet another of my brethren finding me irritating and embarrassed that they couldn’t hide it. So un-angelic of them, truly.
“Ah, is that what that noise is?”
Truthfully, I’d known it was coming. You learn a lot when people think you don’t have the capacity to pay attention. I’d be lounging on a bench in the Light and I’d hear the whispering, the furtive planning, the persuasion. Contrary to the assumptions placed on me, lethargy didn’t mean I wasn’t intelligent. Brilliant, even.
I understood. I just didn’t care enough to get involved.
“Michael requests you at the front with the rest of the Seraphim” Uriel insisted.
“I’ll be along at some point,” I promised, waving him off.
“‘At some point’ usually means you’ll wander over when the fighting is done.”
“Is that what I mean? How clever of you to explain myself to me. I suppose you must be right, oh Almighty Archangel.”
He groaned but pushed off the wall he had his hand braced on. “Fine. But you realize there will be repercussions for not choosing to join in on the side of our Mighty Father. Your refusal to help defend Heaven is just as dire a sin as attacking it yourself.”
“If you say so,” I murmured, waving him off and turning back to my project.
Unfortunately, in the end, he was right. It was the first in what would prove a long and fruitful line of transgressions.
“I didn’t know I had a neighbor on that side.”
Normally I wasn’t much one for being a nosy neighbor, but the sort of general spatial awareness one developed living in close quarters with so many other people had still informed me that the neighbors directly above me had at least two dogs, one more than we were technically allowed, the neighbor across the hall was addicted to Indian food and ordered it several times a week, and the one to my right had a teenager who likes to listen to loud music. In four years, I’d never heard or sensed anything out of the apartment to my left. It was shocking enough that I paused in locking my door behind me and stared at the new face who was juggling three grocery bags and attempting to jam a key in the lock with shaking hands.
Well, that’s a good sign.
His eyes were red-rimmed as he glanced at me and let out a soft, rueful chuckle. “Oh, yeah. Um. For about like, ten years I guess? I don’t know.”
“Ten years?” I could feel my eyebrows creeping up to my hairline in the way that my colleagues called ‘impressive and foreboding.’ I’d learned to do it on demand since they’d called attention to it. It had helped during more than one interrogation.
The guy clearly looked ragged, his hair lank and stringy and so greasy I couldn’t tell if it was naturally ashy brown or if he was blond and just unwashed. Despite that, it still seemed improbable that he was old enough to have lived anywhere on his own for ten whole years, never mind that I’d missed having a neighbor for all four. Since I’d moved to New York I’d gotten very familiar with how hard living could age young people, and it was clear that this guy, though young, had probably been living without proper care for a few years. He was pale in the way of someone who had developed unhealthy sleeping habits, something I was intimately familiar with from my uncertain hours at the law firm. But in addition to that, he had the wasted, washed-out look of someone who used to be very fit and healthy and had lost a lot of muscle mass through personal neglect. I’d seen quite a few guys like him washed up, fighting constant battles with alcohol poisoning or overdose. Strong young men who weren’t so strong now that their glory days of college football or whatever they’d derived their self-esteem from w
He wagged his arm with the bags a little. “It’s not my place. I just run errands for Sal now.”
“Sal?”
“Yeah.” There was something particularly glazed over in his eyes when he mentioned his… friend? Boss? It was unnerving. Made me think that this Sal might be his dealer. That thought was far from comforting. Though in New York… who else could have afforded the rent on a place like this? I only got away with it thanks to overprotective parents who insisted I live somewhere with decent security and helped pay for it, cutting out amenities for themselves to make sure the bill was paid. That was why it was so important I succeed at the law firm, no matter the hours it took off my life from stress. Though to be honest, I loved the pressure of it. My doctor warned me about high blood pressure but I was pretty sure that was just a reflex on her part, not actually a reflection of the state of my physical health.
“Okay, well. I guess thank him for keeping himself so quiet for me then?” I gave him a tight smile and stepped away from my door, half turning towards the elevator. “Have a good night.”
He blinked back to awareness and turned the knob on the door in front of him. “Oh. Yeah. You too.” His eyes had moved off of me entirely before he stopped speaking and his face was almost frighteningly neutral as he pushed the door open and disappeared into what looked like a completely darkened apartment.
Well, that was weird.
I headed down the hallway to the elevator, pulling my hair up into a sloppy bun at the same time. A strange unsettled feeling was crawling up over my shoulders and down my back like I’d learned something tonight that would fundamentally shift my worldview. It was not a good way to start what was likely to turn into an overnight at the firm. It was a feeling I’d had a few times when clients I’d worked hard for suddenly let something slip that made it very clear that they didn’t actually deserve to be defended, and I had to swallow that down and keep doing my job. It made me feel like my moral compass was going to have to adjust. Which seemed like a strange response to just learning I had a neighbor I hadn’t been aware of.
I forgot about the new neighbor revelation quickly enough when I arrived at the office to the smell of coffee and had a stack of files shoved into my hands, but that unsettled feeling never quite let me go. Even when my colleagues cracked jokes to make the night seem lighter, I couldn’t quite find my way to laughing like I normally would, my mind drifting almost sideways when I stared at a page too long. The work got done, but it didn’t make my blood race like it could when I was really invested, and so the night ended up feeling like a really long one.
Long enough to look forward to going home, the memory of why my home wasn’t quite the same anymore was pushed down and forgotten, for the moment.
“Your neighbor is hot,” Rand said absently as he placed the grocery bags down on the kitchen counter.
“Hm.” I didn’t waste energy looking up from the corner of the room I was absently staring into. As with most days, I was sprawled out across the couch, still clad in sweatpants and a hoodie– luxury brand, of course, but very comfortable. I knew he noticed my hair hanging down so long these days it almost brushed the floor. Noticed that there was no hint of stubble on my face and I somehow managed to look immaculate, even at my laziest. He’d been under my sway long enough to stop asking questions, even of himself. Rand’s body swayed involuntarily in my direction before pulling up short and leaning instead against the counter.
“Anyway, I brought snacks and stuff. Should I put it away or just…?”
“Bring it over here and leave it out.” I could feel my words slipping out of me in a slow drawl, almost slurred. Drunk on something other than alcohol. Lethargy so profound, it was almost meditative. I’d been having a really good session of nothing before he arrived.
Obedient, Rand picked the bags up and carried them over, setting them down on the coffee table. He dared allow himself a glance at my face. He averted his eyes quickly, much more quickly than I shifted my gaze to his face. Rand still moved too quickly. But I knew anyway. I always knew. Their eyes couldn’t stay away. Just like their souls couldn’t, once they’d fallen into my orbit.
“Did you need anything else, Boss?”
“Hmmm.” I opened my mouth slightly and inhaled deeply, eyes rolling up to the ceiling. Then I let out a sigh that sounded like it came from the very depths of my soul, one of my very favorite dramatic effects for these pathetic hangers on, the irony of considering my soul completely aside. “I want to wash, I suppose.”
“I’ll draw you a bath then,” Rand quickly offered, then winced. Too abrupt. Too sloppy.
I made my mouth draw into a fine line, but I didn’t bother to reprimand him for his eagerness. I didn’t need to. He was fairly well trained by now. And watching him punish himself was always more amusing anyway.
Rand made sure to walk slowly down the hallway, feet dragging over the plush carpet. It was clean today. One of my other minions had come by earlier to vacuum. Rand still wasn’t allowed in my space for long enough periods of time to actually do chores beyond dropping off food and carrying trash out. Occasionally drawing a bath. He was still too quick, too lively. It was shameful, really. Made my skin itch.
Anyway, I usually preferred female minions. They were easier on the eyes. Easier to push around. Honestly, so many human cultures just sent them out into the world pre-programmed to be obedient to a man. Even if I wasn’t really a man.
Making sure to take his time, he pushed into the bathroom, also recently cleaned, and shuffled over to the tub, which he started filling. While he was there, I could hear him grabbing the empty plastic shampoo bottles that were sitting in the shower. They weren’t terribly piled up, as I preferred things neat even if I didn’t keep them that way myself. Taking out the recycling without being instructed was still a lot of initiative for a minion. Clearly he had a way to go in his learning. Too much excess energy. I’d need to do something about that soon.
When the water started running, I slid to my feet, slowly pulling myself up to most of my full height, though I had a habit that annoyed my… siblings? compatriots?... of hunching inward. I was still noticeably taller than the humans around me, but slouching put me down closer to their height, as well as really punctuating my indifference to, well, everything. Lucifer in particular disliked the habit, said it wasn't intimidating. I pointed out that I didn’t need to intimidate to draw pathetic mortal minions to me. But he never did understand anything that wasn’t flashy and over the top, letting people know they were beneath him. So proud, my ‘brother.’ So much wasted energy.
I shuffled down the hallway, slowly pulling my hoodie off and dropping it on the carpet as I went. I reached the bathroom and Rand averted his gaze quickly from my lean, almost emaciated form, the skin so pale it almost glowed in the flickering bathroom light. It amused me to know that my figure meant I looked good in anything I wore. Everything draped well on me and I didn’t have to try. “Put a chair out on the balcony,” I ordered, pushing past Rand and into the bathroom. The steam from the water brought on a feeling of deep lassitude that I appreciated.