"Monica," Nikki sighed. "Enough."

"She's right, rein it in. Now," Grant finished.

"Sorry," Monica said looking down, actually abashed.

"You five will need to learn to use you power. I'm not saying you have to be friends but our powers were created to work together and you need to work on that. Do not butt heads with each other. Now have fun and try out your knew powers." Nikki said standing up and stretching.

"Wait how does Monica already have her sin?" I forced myself to ask.

"We wanted to test it on someone and Lust is the easiest sin to recognize. All you have to do is find someone who always wants attention, especially attention of the other sex."

"Recognize the sin?"

"Well you have to understand we can't do this by random. That's why we stayed with you four. We wanted to see you commit the sins because that's the only way to be infect someone is if they've repeatedly committed the sin." Nikki sighed and pulled Grant to his feet.

"Wait where are you going?"

"Out, but your five will stay here and make sure to work on your powers. We'll be back in a few hours," Nikki said.

"Work on making others feel your sin. Use each other as guinea pigs. Have fun!" Grant said as they both went upstairs.

Monica stood awkwardly and for once looked out of place. I watched her and right before my eyes her perfectness seemed to disappear. I could clearly see every imperfection and vulnerability. Monica turned to look at me and her eyes hardened and suddenly the imperfections where gone and the perfect Monica stood there again.

"Well are we going to do something?" She sneered.

"Well I guess we can work on our powers," I suggested wanting to see what we could do.

"They aren't all that great I mean we can just make people commit the sin," Monica sighed and flopped onto the couch.

"But didn't you notice that the others, the more experienced sins, they always seemed to come together. They always stayed together," I noted.

"Like they were more powerful together then apart." Michael finished.

"Monica how many people could you infect at once?" I asked. I looked over at Eve and Shane to see if they had caught on, but Eve looked even more confused than before and was tightly gripping Michael's arm. Shane on the other hand had managed to dose off.

"I don't know maybe like four or five, but that was just inklings. I can infect one person almost to the point of love….kind of."

"So imagine if all of us were together we could infect a whole city."

"I don't recommend that," Grant said coming down the stairs.

"I thought you said you'd be gone a few hours," Eve said harshly.

"Well Nikki decided it would be better if one of us was here to watch you and make sure you don't infect a city."

"And why shouldn't we?" Monica sneered.

"As you probably know we weren't the original sins. Sure we were the first that had been humanly infected, but the powers that be have chosen the sins for thousands of years. The proof that you need is in Las Vegas. The city of sins. Back when it was first being built the sin crown had just been turned over and they thought it would be fun to unleash their whole power. One little problem. You unleash everything we cannot rein it back in like usual. The sin grows on it's own and takes on its own life."

"So Las Vegas was a mistake?"

"I don't know for sure that's just the story that has been handed down from generation to generation. A little warning."

"Fine, then what are we supposed to do?" Shane grumbled sleepily.

"Just relax. Have fun with your power like this," Grant his eyes glowed green and he smiled widely. "Come on let's go see what you can do."

We followed him out of the hole in the ground to the sun streaming brightly and my arms went up defensively to cover my eyes.

"Now you know how the vampires felt. Come on this way." I grabbed Shane's hand as we stumbled after Grant. He led us to the park in the center of town. The last time I had been here it was vampire central and I couldn't help but glance around and make sure Shane wasn't still locked in the cage waiting to burn.

"Show me what you can do." I glanced at Grant noticed him watching me. I knew what he was thinking. I was pride I should want to be the first one to master my power. I should want to be the best.

Okay, maybe I did, but I was trying my best to stamp that out of myself.

Don't fight it. My mind said, but for some reason it sounded just like Nikki and I shook my head trying to clear my mind. My eyes were squeezed shut but I could still see the gold that seemed to shine through them.

I gasped and my eyes flew open. Everything had a bright gold tint to it and my eyes focused on a pair of older gentlemen sitting at one of the tables playing a game of chess. Both men seemed to straighten up and started talking gesturing at the table. It was to far away to hear what they were seeing but soon they were standing their hand gestures becoming wider.

"Nik, you're carrying it too far." Grant said quietly. I wanted to turn to see if she was there, but I couldn't take my eyes off the men.

"What's happening?" Monica asked from my left.

"Our little Claire is using her power. Making those men too prideful to play the game. They each thought the other one cheated. Pride is a dark sin. The darkest in my opinion," Grant said and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I knew Shane's warmth and I knew that I could finally look away and when I glanced back at him I looked briefly into Eve's eyes and I saw the envy burning through them, but by the time I looked back it was gone and she was smiling at me.

She's letting Envy take control. Nikki's voice whispered in my ear again. I brought my hands up to my temples trying to rub her voice out but I could still feel the presence through the silence.

"Tell her to leave me alone." I pleaded my head starting to swim.

"She's had enough," Grant said nodding. I looked up and suddenly Nikki was there smiling.

"What was the point of that?" I asked my tone beginning to reflect Nikki's.

"Teaching. Showing you how to control your sin. You let it over take you and by doing that everyone around you felt it. Humans and sins alike. You saw the envy in Eve's eyes, not because she was envious of you, but because you sin was calling out to hers. Begging it to awaken." Nikki explained.

"Why teach us, aren't you just going to rip the power from us in the end?" Michael asked his eyes still a little darker than usual.

Grant smiled, "of course, but like we said when we first came here, we need the door to open first. We still aren't sure when it will crack, but we figure we should get you ready. After all, you could be living with these power for years."