The ticking of the clock echoed through the classroom, bouncing off the faded gray and green tiled floor. Voices could be heard to the left and right, speaking in hushed tones while awaiting the final tick of the clock that would announce the students’ release from their high school prison. Chairs squeaked loudly, the harsh tones breaking the steady ‘tick, tock’ that reverberated from one speckled white wall to the other as students shifted restlessly.

An eternity seemed to pass before the bell finally rang, the sharp noise catching a handful of students off guard while the rest rose unceremoniously from their seats and bounded out the door into the crowded hallways of the private school.

One student remained, casually albeit diligently gathering his textbooks into slim arms before dumping them into a black and brown messenger bag. His dark brown hair was cut unevenly across his forehead, feathery wisps twisting out in haphazard curls, while the rest fell softly against the nape of his neck. Honey-brown eyes gazed lazily from behind bangs that rested just below his eyebrows while one hand absently tried to adjust the half-popped collar of his partially buttoned navy overshirt. Beneath the overshirt was an orange tee with white longsleeves, a hole cut in the hem of each sleeve where his thumbs resided before slipping into the pockets of his khaki cargo pants.

He slung the bag over his shoulder before turning his attention to the door where a younger male stood idly. His stylishly tousled hair swept in golden brown waves cut high above his chin, his bangs slanting devilishly across his face and nearly curving down to the swell of his right cheekbone; the right eye shone blue through his bangs while the other one was a dark chocolate hue. A forest green tee covered in bleached white patterns fit him well, and was just loose enough to be comfortable. Dark-washed denim jeans donned his shapely hips, a black leather belt with a large silver and black gothic-styled buckle protruding out.

He tapped one white designer shoe against the frame of the door and sighed impatiently. “In the amount of time it takes you to get your things, I probably could have raided the seven levels of Hell and made dinner, Shin.”

“Eh,” Shin muttered almost breathlessly as if it had taken a more than ample amount of his energy to stand. “Who’s in a rush? Maybe you should slow down and smell the roses, Gabe. Wouldn’t want to miss the whole world, now would you?”

“Gabriel,” the other boy corrected. “It’s Gabriel.” A twinge of anger lingered in the air, wafting from the redhead’s voice toward Shin. The dark-haired boy ignored the intended resentment and brushed past him into the now barren hallway. He mosied his way to the front of the school, Gabriel trailing behind with a hint of annoyance left on his face.

Shin pushed open the glass double doors and was hit with a light autumn breeze as the sun smiled down on his head. He raised one hand to shield his eyes as he searched for someone, but to no avail. As though Gabriel could read his mind, he noted, “Tristan left early today. It’s just you and me.”

“Can we call Rian to pick us up? I really don’t want to walk,” Shin whined as he set himself down on the concrete steps of the school. He looked behind himself at Gabriel, his lips twisting into an amused smile.

Gabriel seemed less amused as he grabbed Shin by the collar of his shirt and pulled the older boy up. “Why couldn’t the new baby be Sloth? It’d be easier to get you to do things if you were Gluttony, I swear,” he said heatedly to himself as he dragged Shin halfway down the street.

Shin finally picked himself up, swatting Gabriel away before sloppily fixing his shirt and trudging along beside him. The leaves had already begun to change color and more than half the trees they passed has already become crimson and gold, with only a small hint of green remaining.

Mere minutes lead them to their house, formerly Côté-Gauthier Manor. Since they had been children they had only known it as D’Eath Manor, as their father had renamed it and posted on the large oak sign hanging to the left of the lengthy winding driveway. Shin pouted softly as his eyes traveled up the driveway to their house, which sat atop a hill surrounded by maple and pine trees.

D’Eath Manor was aptly named and housed the five D’Eath brothers, their father, and their father’s fiancé. The manor contained nine bedrooms, five full baths and three half-baths, two porches and a balcony. In addition to that it sat on ten untainted acres of prime real estate, minus the pool that had just recently been added. The front of the house was a pastel yellow with a chalky red-brown roof and white bay windows. A maple swing hung to the right of the front doors, chained to the ceiling of the covered front porch.

“It’s so far away,” he murmured as he forced his hands into the pockets of his khakis. “I think I’m gonna wait for Rian to get back so he can drive me up to the top.”

Gabriel gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tightly, refraining from doing serious bodily injury to the other boy. “Shin Yong-Sook D’Eath…” he began in a trembling voice. By the time he had reopened his eyes Shin had managed to sprint halfway up the drive. Gabriel allowed himself the tiniest of victorious smiles.

“What was that all about?” a gently raspy voice questioned. Gabriel turned around and found their oldest brother, Rian, fixing him with a curiously entertained stare.

Obsidian hair framed Rian’s face, the bangs falling just short of his angular jaw, while the rest came just above the shoulders and flipped out. His nearly claret eyes were shallow and lost, a constant look of discontent emanating from them behind lush eyelashes. Around his neck he wore a thin silver chain necklace, an unseen pendant hiding beneath the loose material of his white and silver graphic tee. Over his tee he wore a black blazer with the ends of each too-long sleeve folded to show just the ends of his painted black fingernails. White-washed jeans fell low on his hips, a studded belt barely holding them up while a nominal sliver of stomach was exposed.

“Wrathful much?” Rian mused in a stoic tone.

“I hardly consider that being wrathful, Rian,” he grunted before beginning up the hill.

Rian walked beside him, jogging for a second to catch up, then asked, “So how was school?”

“Fine, I guess. Shin always takes forever, so we never make the bus. If we could just make the bus then I wouldn’t have to hear him complain about walking home every day.”

“You know he’d still complain about walking up the damn driveway,” Rian pointed out.

“Why don’t you talk to him? He’s your brother,” Gabriel complained. “He hates doing anything that requires being awake!”

A smirk tugged at Rian’s lips and he shook his head, eyes watching Gabriel’s silhouette. “Just because he and I have the same mom and dad doesn’t mean that he’ll listen to me. It’ll just go in one ear and out the other.”

“Whatever,” was Gabriel’s reply as he opened one of the cherry wood doors and stepped inside.

Rian rolled his eyes and followed, kicking the door shut with his foot and heading down the stairs to the basement. “I’m taking a nap, so don’t be loud,” he warned before shutting and locking the basement door.

Shin peered his head out of the kitchen, catching the end of what Rian had said. “Rian? Rian’s home?” He paused, then continued, “Wait, that means he could have driven me up the drive.” He trailed off and shot Gabriel a displeased look with his big brown eyes, then demanded, “If Rian was here why didn’t you let him drive me up the driveway? That’s what you’re supposed do to on a driveway: drive!”

“Rian didn’t drive anywhere today because he was walking, too.”

“Huh? Oh. Well, since Rian’s decided to go be a vampire again, wanna help me with my homework?” Shin gave Gabriel a toothy grin and winked at his younger brother. “Please?”

“Replace ‘help’ with ‘do’ and ‘please’ with ‘now’ and I might believe you,” Gabriel mused as he walked to the refrigerator. After opening it he settled on pouring himself a glass of orange juice and turning his attention back to Shin. “What class did you need help with?”

“Math. Again.”

Gabriel arched a brow as he took a sip of his juice. “You mean your algebra class? C’mon Shin, get it together! This is the third time you’ve taken the class. I mean, it’s not getting any harder for you!”

Shin’s lower lip quivered as he stared at Gabriel. “I just dun’ get it!” he insisted rather loudly, voice shaky. “I don’t like math Gabey!”

“Don’t call me Gabey, Shin!” Gabriel hollered. There was a bang on the floor and Gabriel grimaced. “Sorry, Rian!” he shouted at the floor. After another bang Gabriel looked back at Shin and folded his arms firmly over his chest.

“Gabey Gabey Gabey,” Shin sang with wide-eyes and a lopsided smile. “Help me!”

“You know what? Just for that, go bug Rian to help you. I am not going to listen to you anymore. I’ve got homework to do too, yanno. Later, dude.” Gabriel downed his juice in one gulp and leaned over the counter to place the glass in the sink, then gave Shin a curt wave and headed upstairs.

Shin hollered after him but Gabriel ignored him and locked his bedroom door, hoping it would help drown out the sounds of Shin’s begging. Lucky for him it did and he moved to sit at his computer, opening up a paper he had barely started. It was looking to be a long day for him.

Meanwhile, as Gabriel hid in the sanctuary he called his room, Shin had abandoned the idea of forcing anyone to do his homework for him and decided to call Tristan to find out when he would be home. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and held down speed dial. After a few rings, Tristan answered.

“Hello?” came Tristan’s sultry voice followed by a female shouting loudly and a bout of laughter. Shin cleared his throat then asked,

“What are you doing?”

Tristan appeared not to have heard him and asked, “Is something wrong? Did Gabriel piss you off again?”

“What? Oh, no! I just wanted to know what you’re doing,” Shin answered before checking to see if he was getting bad reception. He wasn’t.

After a brief pause and some static, Tristan’s voice came back. “I’m at Grounds with Casey. What are you doing?”

“Nothing. Rian went downstairs to sleep and Gabe’s doing homework upstairs. He wouldn’t help me do mine, so now I’m bored.”

“You mean he wouldn’t do your homework for you, right?” Tristan corrected with a small chuckle. “Well, I’ll help you when I get home, but it might be a while. Where’s Adel? Why doesn’t he entertain you?”

Shin sighed and kicked his feet up in the wicker chair beside him. “I don’t know. He’s not home yet. I think Adel’s at that girl’s house… uh, I don’t remember her name. His little girlfriend. I think what’s-her-face said something about it this morning.”

“She’s not his girlfriend, Shin. And what’s-her-face has a name, too. You don’t have to be rude. We’re all civilized,” he paused, then added, “to an extent. Anyway, I’ve gotta go. Watch some TV or something. Bye.”