Rev looks at me, confused, and sees my panicked expression. Something registers in his face. "Seven? What's going on?"

I can't answer him. I can't speak. My eyes are locked with Zach's, whose gaze is deep and knowing. A whisper of my voice tries to escape, tries to scream, but some invisible force keeps me from moving. Rev's worry lines seem to deepen. I don't have to look to my side to know that Kianna is staring at me as well.

"Will someone explain what's going on!?" Rev splits the silence, and I flinch at his aggressive tone.

"Sev-" Kianna's voice is dripping with concern, but she's interrupted by a new voice.

"How 'bout we all just sit down for a little bit to talk about it? No need to get worked up."

We all swivel around in unison as a shadow seems to melt off the wall, forming a person. My eyes widen to the size of tennis balls. The boy standing in front of me has a sly look in his dark brown eyes, and a lopsided grin tugging at the corner of his lips. His blonde hair fluffs -yes, fluffs- across his forehead, only enhancing his cute boyish look. Yes, I'll admit my eyes were drawn to him, but that quite possibly could have been because of the massive pair of white, feathered angel wings that were attached to him. Guardian, I think. From beside him, Adrian also slinks out of the shadows, his blonde hair almost matching the mystery man's, as if they were-

"-brothers," Adrian sighs, raking a hand through his hair.

My mouth drops as Adrian's brother walks closer, his eyes glued to me. "The name's Caleb, love, but you can just call me... The Guardian," the dramatic way he draws out the last two words makes me laugh, loosening up the tension in the air.

"Oh, really?" I speak, forgetting all about Zach for a second, before a familiar grunt reminds me.

"What happened to my attention," Zach whines, darkening my expression.

"It died when you left us the first time," I snap, crossing my arms, "stop talking all this pointless nonsense, and get up. It's time for a grand ol' family reunion." I wave my arms around pointedly and march out of a side door into a nearly empty parking lot. When the door closes behind me, I sigh and sag down, leaning against the wall for a second to catch my breath. And maybe my thoughts along with it. I give myself ten seconds, curling up with my head in between my knees, and I breathe. Then I stand up, shake it off, and walk to the car. In perfect timing, the rest of the crew bursts through the back doors. The drastic difference in facial expressions makes me laugh. Caleb's shining smile next to the other's stoic expressions. So different. I shake off my wonder and notice Rev bringing up the rear, oh so casually hanging onto the collar of Zach's shirt, slightly cutting off his circulation. I shoot Rev a look and he shrugs sheepishly, laying off Zach just a little bit. Adrian looks at the van we brought and at how many people we have and immediately backs up.

"I'm taking a short-cut, see you at home," Adrian speeds before quickly dissolving into dust, transporting his lazy butt away.

"Wow, talk about being a sloth," Kianna mumbles, annoyed.

---

After enduring an annoyingly claustrophobic car ride home, we all settle into the house, quiet but eager to ask questions.

I break the silence, glancing between Adrian and Caleb, "Brother, huh? How does that work?"

Adrian speaks up, "Well, we were brothers before the whole... transforming, and I guess Death just decided that the best person to keep me in check would be him."

I nod, reviewing what I know about Caleb's kind. They are sort of like guardian angels, which I guess is why they're called the Guardians, and they were created in opposition to the seven sins. To keep us in check, I think. Not that I'd ever even met one before. I glance back towards Caleb, in awed curiosity. His wings are casually spread out behind him as he lays on the ground. As I take a better look at them, I notice that they aren't exactly angel wings, but more like bird wings. The sight of the soft, brown-tipped feathers remind me of a hawk's wings, and my heart swells strangely at the sight of them.

Caleb's amused voice interrupts my thoughts, "Like what you see?"

My cheeks flush red at his comment and I quickly turn away, but not before I notice his perplexed expression. I'm suddenly aware of the voices echoing around the room.

"-if we can even trust him?' Rev seems to be saying, "So what if he's your brother? Doesn't mean he wasn't set up."

Adrian glares at him, a growl rumbling in his chest.

Kianna steps in, "Okay, okay. Let's calm down. If Adrian trusts him, we might as well. That doesn't mean we have to tell him all our secrets over a cup of tea, or anything. But we need information fast before we're exposed again."

"We don't even know who exposed us to that woman, much less how," Damien cuts in.

"Wait," I mumble, "what even happened to that woman?" Somehow, all of the voices crowding the space go silent simultaneously. Heads turn down suspiciously. I narrow my eyes, "What happened?"

Kianna looks up sheepishly, "Well, we had to, erm, dispose of her."

I cringe, remembering the pure terror in the old woman's eyes.

"It was almost her time anyways, and we got permission," Kianna mumbles sheepishly.

I stand up in horror, an image of blinding pain searing beneath my eyelids, and swiftly leave the room, stumbling upstairs to my bedroom. I slam the door behind me, trying to ignore Caleb's loud whisper, "What's wrong with her?"

I sag onto my bed, What is wrong with me? What else could we have done with the woman? She knew too much. She couldn't be left alive. So why was I so bothered? All I could think about was the way she died. Painfully. If one of the seven sins were to kill someone without Death, it could only be by pure torture. I remember the first time Death asked me to kill someone without him. I couldn't think too much about it, though I had a feeling it would be terrible.

Her pale face stared up at me in awe, and I smiled tightly, knowing what was to come. I lead her into a secluded room inside of her lonely home. I knew no one would miss her. No one even knew her. She was a shy girl who worked at a tiny restaurant, cleaning the dishes while the 'prettier' waitresses served the customers. She was kind, although she went unknown. Which made it all the more difficult to kill her. Death promised I'd never have to do it again as long as I did it this once, but my heart was aching for her. Suddenly, I made up my mind and jumped at her, pinning her down with surprising force. She yelped in fear, and a jolt of pain shook my soul. I shook it off and closed my eyes, concentrating on the energy flowing through me.Suddenly, the woman below me started screaming. The cry was filled with so much agony, I felt my heart ripping apart at the sound. Somehow I kept myself together, though, to finish the job. The energy flowing through me stopped. After a few moments, her scream faded to a heartbreaking sob. She looked up at me through her damp eyelashes, and suddenly a weak expression of confusion flashed across her face. "Tara?" She mumbled quietly before her body stilled, and her eyes emptied of life.

Later, after searching for the meaning behind her last words, I discovered that she had a three-year-old daughter. A daughter named Tara. After all of her anguish and terror, her only fear was for her Tara. With that information, I seriously broke down. I refused to eat or sleep for weeks, torturing myself with the echo of her cries. I guess a part of me was still tortured by that.

My body sinks into the bed beneath me, silent tears streaming down my face. I curl into a ball, hanging onto the cold feeling within me. My eyes slide shut, pressing out a few tears along the way, when suddenly, I hear the click of my doorknob turning. Someone walks in. Kianna. Keeping my eyes closed, I mumble, "I know I overreacted, Kianna, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, love," the voice of a man startles me, and I jump up, hastily wiping the tears from my cheeks. It's Caleb.

"Oh, I thought you were-"

"Kianna?" He guesses. I nod. "Yeah, well, she was going to come up, but I offered to instead."

I knit my eyebrows together in confusion, "Why?"

He shrugs, "I'm curious," and plops down on the bed next to me, stretching his wings out. He closes his eyes for a moment then winces and turns to me, resting his head on his hand, "Why is there such agony in your soul?"

I turn away from him, and look down at my hands, fiddling with my thumbs, "What do you mean?"

He glances down at my hands, "Well, us Guardians are kind of like you sins. We are given some sort of unique special ability along with our wings. For me, there's a deeper sense of sympathy, almost. I can, like, feel people's emotions." I startle, peeking at him in awe. He smiles at my reaction, and continues, "Right now, there's this overwhelming pain hanging around you. I'm just wondering why."

I grimace, "I just don't like the thought of the woman's pain, I guess."

He nods, examining my expression, then turns away in thought. For a few moments, we're lost in thought, comfortable in the silence. Caleb looks at me again seemingly back to normal, "So what's your ability, love?"

I wrinkle my nose at his pet name, but respond anyways, "I am the envisionment of beauty. Whatever your perception of beauty is, that is how I appear. Like, if the most beautiful look to you was tan skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, bam that's me. Warm, brown skin, chocolate eyes, black hair? Me." I sigh, and he chuckles.

"That's interesting," he ponders, then we lull back into silence.

Out of nowhere, a pain explodes in my head, and I gasp. Flashes of color dot my vision, and a deafening ring pounds in my ears. I feel firm arms around me, and suddenly I'm floating. Floating deep into an oblivion of black. Into a trance of unconsciousness.