Serah was quiet for a moment, staring down into the cup at the liquid, a deep crimson color. "I'm afraid there's not much to tell."

Serah recounted what she could, giving a summarized version of herself. A few brief sentences to sum up a forgotten lifetime.

"Wow, that's… wow." Samantha stared at her, dumbfounded. "You remember nothing from before the big storm?"

"Nothing," Serah replied, but a tingle inside of her told her she was telling a lie. Images flashed in her mind, the same images that had assaulted her when Luce kissed her in her living room. It had been just a few days ago, his absence afterward a hard pill to swallow. He'd vanished and hadn't resurfaced.

She was still questioning her sanity.

"You poor thing." Samantha reached over, grasping Serah's hand, the contact sending a buzz through her that made her heart race. It was like being zapped in the chest. "I can't imagine what it must be like."

Before Serah could respond, a screech echoed from a back bedroom, little footsteps running down the hallway. Serah glanced up as Nicki ran into the kitchen, clutching a notebook. The little girl was rambling something about a drawing but froze, eyes widening when she saw Serah sitting there.

"Hey!" she said excitedly, skirting right past her mother to run for Serah instead. "I just drew you!"

Serah tensed as Samantha let out a laugh. Nicki leaped up in the chair right beside Serah, slamming her notebook down on the table in front of them. Serah glanced at the picture, joining Samantha in laughter at what she saw: a woman, in a long tan colored dress, holding a green blob in her hands.

"It's a frog," Nicki exclaimed, pointing at it. "Did you find yours yet?"

"I don't know that I have," Serah said hesitantly.

"Too bad." Nicki said it casually, shrugging. "Maybe you will today."

The little girl was off again, running for the door as she shouted back at her mother that she was going outside to play. Samantha yelled to her, telling her to tie her shoes, asking her to be careful, shouting to her about safety, but Nicki was out the door without listening to a bit of it. Groaning, Samantha shoved her chair back and climbed to her feet. "I wish I had half of her energy."

"Luckily, I do," Serah said, jumping to her feet. "Allow me."

Samantha looked as if she wanted to argue but shrugged it off, slumping back into the chair. Serah headed outside, finding Nicki in the front yard, the grass nearly to her small waist. Serah helped the girl tie her shoes and relayed the messages from her mother before heading back inside. She retook the seat at the table, picking up the yet untouched glass of wine, as Samantha eyed her peculiarly.

"Did she put up a fight?"

"No."

"She listened to you?"

"Yes."

A smile overtook Samantha's lips. "Serah, I think you and I are going to be great friends."

Serah let out a light laugh as she brought the cup to her lips, hesitantly taking a small sip of the wine. It was bitter, and kind of warm, but it went down smoothly. Serah pulled the cup back, glancing inside of it, before taking another sip right away.

Three sips later, her body was tingly.

Another four and she felt like she was floating above the chair.

The two chatted as they sat at the kitchen table, late afternoon turning into early evening. Serah drank the wine and happily listened while Samantha vented her frustrations. By the time night fell outside, Nicki was sitting with them, coloring contentedly. Both women were relaxed, a weight seemed to have lifted off of Samantha's shoulders, while Serah was downright buzzing.

All mortals have sin inside of them.

In some, it's barely measurable, little drops of depravity that never floated to the surface, staying buried deep inside the body. Others wear their sins like tattoos on the skin, badges they carelessly flash at anyone who comes near.

Luce had encountered them all—the selfish mostly full of greed, the lazy filled to the brim with sloth, the evil fed by wrath, the jealous consumed by envy, the conceited with their inflated pride, and the gluttons with their overindulging—but he'd always been drawn to the ones bathed in lust. Pheromones coated them like an intoxicating perfume. In the past, he rarely resisted the scent. He drowned himself in it, sometimes not coming up for air for days… weeks… months.

Years.

He'd walk away from a binge of sin, coated in all of the deadliest, his eyes blazing embers, his skin pulsating. In the aftermath, he'd feel like that indestructible being, the villainous monster the world made him out to be. He wouldn't think twice about those he destroyed during his rampage, the souls he'd shredded, the torture he'd inflicted.

He was a junkie, plain and simple…

And he hadn't had a taste in months.

Luce stood in front of Serah's house. The lights were all off inside, nobody home, but he could sense her essence strongly next door. It was a powerful concentration, humming like a motor, the vibration so intense Luce could feel the ground trembling beneath his feet. Her energy still buzzed on a higher frequency than everyone else, and tonight, it was loud.

It practically screamed.

He'd been half a world away, on another continent, in the ancient castle where the demons still flocked, passing his time sitting in that throne and tinkering with his knife. He'd sent his minions out to keep an eye on Abaddon, and they reported back every few hours with what he was doing.

Nothing.