heavenly virtues
by Sora G. Silverwind

Summary: catitas. frenum. liberalitas. industria. patientia. humanitas. humilitas.

Rating: PG-13 for language n' stuffs.

Author's notes: And here are the counterparts to the deadly sins! Yeehaw. Watch out for more instances of "WTF THIS WASN'T IN CANON!!1111eleventyfour!!1"

Disclaimer: DISCLAIM THIS, BETCHES.

Special thanks to: Vanessa Carlton's "Heroes and Thieves" album.

B-O-M-B

catitas - chastity

B-O-M-B

Zoniha found him, as always, working at the kitchen table in near total darkness.

"Okay, look," she said, putting her hands on her hips, "I know you're a bat in a human's body and all that, but really, if you keep on doing this, you're going to go blind." She fluttered her eyelashes at him. "And then how will you appreciate my blinding beauty?"

No response from Regulus—which was a pretty standard response.

Zoniha shrugged, then poked at the air to produce little luminescent globes of soft blue light from her fingertip. She shooed them in his direction. "Hey...are you all right?" she asked, squinting at his features illuminated by the light of the Seekers. "You're looking a little...um...something...than usual."

"I'm fine," he said firmly.

Not convinced, Zoniha promptly walked over and sat next to him. "What's got you so worked up?"

"Nothing. Standard fare from Albereo's remaining family. They're still not happy that I offed his son and took over for him in the Phoenix."

Zoniha glanced over at Regulus' laptop, where various profiles on different underground persons of interest were pulled up. There was also a half-finished e-mail addressing one of Regulus' subordinates on a recent job, which Regulus was currently working on. "Okay, I'll grant you that—old man Creone never struck me as being particularly dangerous, just annoying as hell. You can deal with him easy enough, and if you need me to clean up any of your mess I'll do it. But you still look like crap."

"I'm perfectly fine."

A thought struck Zoniha. She placed the back of her hand against Regulus' forehead. "Oh, geez!" she exclaimed. "You're freakin' burning to death inside!"

"Zoniha, I would appreciate it if you—"

"Dragged your admittedly fine ass off to bed? Yeah, I'd appreciate it too!"

"Zoniha."

The mild irritation in his voice was enough to make Zoniha flinch back. "Fine," she muttered, glaring at him. "Work yourself to death, you bastard. See if I care. But will you at least drink something?"

"Whatever you think would be best."

Zoniha rolled her eyes. "Oh, trust me, you just turned down the best." But she went to pour a glass of the coldest water she could get. She set it down on a napkin nearby. Regulus took a sip from it without looking at her even once. Zoniha continued to stare at him intently; he continued composing his e-mail.

A minute passed.

Zoniha slowly reached out again to touch his face—

"Cornelia Detlin is becoming dangerous," Regulus said.

Her hand froze in the air. She slowly lowered it. "The singer? Really? That vacuous thing that old man Creone calls his girl-pet?"

"She has connections to money and persons of influence. She hasn't the brain cells to understand fully the implications of her position, and I highly doubt she'll ever get any. But there are those in the Creone family who already know how useful she is—and will wring every last ounce of usefulness from her. In fact, I think one of them has already started."

Zoniha frowned. "The bitch."

"Rigel's wife? Yes, considering that Rigel is starting to descend into senility."

She traced out Regulus' name in the dew starting to condense on the side of the water glass. "Then maybe it would be...fortunate...if something happened to the bitch instead. She'd deserve it."

"No. The Creones already have a number of friends who want me gone as a result of killing Albereo. I'd prefer not to provoke them unless I absolutely have to."

"And getting Cornelia out of the picture won't piss them off?"

Regulus finally made eye contact with Zoniha. "Not if it was an undeniable accident."

Silence.

"...well, then." Zoniha stood up. She took a ponytail holder from her jean pocket and pulled her hair back into a rough bun at the base of her neck, then strode over to snatch up her handbag from the leather couch. "It's nice outside, you know. I'll head out to the store to pick up more of that...whatever chocolate it is that you've been wanting lately. I'll be back as soon as possible."

As Zoniha was about to leave the condo, Regulus said, "I'll lie down in a couple of minutes. Basrick and Solteira should be informed of new developments."

Zoniha smirked at him over her shoulder. "Finish your water while you're at it, too, you ass."

"As you wish."